Famous Adana kebab launched into space, reaches stratosphere

ADANA

A kebab chef in the southern province of Adana has attempted to send a dish of “boru kebabı,” roughly called “pipe kebab,” into space with a weather balloon, which exploded in the stratosphere after a three-hour flight and fell into the Mediterranean Sea.

“I am a man who likes to make firsts,” Yaşar Aydın told Demirören News Agency on April 12.

The special event was held on April 12, the International Day of Human Space Flight, which is the anniversary of the legendary flight of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space.

The idea of “kebab flight” dates back to a time when Aydın met and told his dream to entrepreneur İdris Albayrak.

Albayrak designed a special heat-resistant styrofoam box with a team of about 30 people and placed a camera and a tracking device on it, and then connected that box to a weather balloon filled with helium gas.

Targeting to send “boru kebabı” some 38 kilometers above the skies of Adana, the duo put the kebab, onions and garnishes on the platform and sent the balloon up from the Menekşe neighborhood in the Sarıçam district.

The journey of the kebab above the skies was captured by the durable camera.

After a three-hour journey, the balloon exploded in the stratosphere and fell into the sea off the southern province of Hatay’s Payas district, some 121 kilometers away from the place launched.

Thanks to the tracking device, Aydın reached the kebab by boat and brought the “first Turkish export into space” to his restaurant in Adana.

“Our kebab reached a certain level in space. But next time, we will rise our kebab higher [into deep space],” Aydın said while depicting her next dream.

When asked why the balloon exploded, he replied with jokes. “The aliens sent it back because they found the kebab spicy. Next time, I will send one less spicy.”

“I am happy to promote our city and cuisine,” he told reporters watching the launch and return.

Albayrak, a university student studying space engineering, was also proud. “I have been working on such a project for a decade. We succeeded in sending kebab to space. A great pride for Adana.”