Pizza Hut delivered a pizza to the International Space Station in 2001. The publicity stunt made the restaurant chain part of spaceflight history by adapting one of its signature foods for an environment where ordinary delivery and cooking were impossible.
The pizza was vacuum-sealed and measured about 6 inches, or 15 centimeters, in diameter so it could fit in the station’s oven. It was launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft and eaten in orbit by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachov.
The delivery was more complicated than simply sending a standard restaurant pizza into space. Food had to be packaged for transport, remain safe during the mission, and be compatible with the station’s equipment. A conventional delivery box, fresh toppings, and ordinary reheating methods would not have worked.
Pizza Hut’s space pizza is sometimes mixed up with the chain’s earlier space advertising. In 2000, the company paid to place its logo on a Proton rocket associated with a mission to the International Space Station; the actual pizza delivery followed in 2001.