Black Widow
07-24-2008, 04:22 PM
A French flight attendant has won the chance to fly to the edge of space after picking up a chocolate bar wrapper from the bin.
The wrapper contained a winning code for a competition to fly into sub-orbital space on board a new spacecraft.
Mathilde Epron says she bought the KitKat chocolate bar at her local supermarket - but threw the wrapper in the bin at first, telling herself "it's only others who win".
Two hours later, the 32-year-old decided to try her luck and returned to the bin to discover if she had won, only to find a winning code printed inside her wrapper.
Ms Epron told France Info radio that "for someone who works in air travel it's really a dream come true".
A spokeswoman for Nestle confirmed that Ms Epron had won the prize as part of a competition being run by the company in France.
The prize includes four days of astronaut training in Oklahoma City in the US before taking off in a new four-seater spacecraft.
The Rocketplane XP spacecraft could provide commercial space travel as early as 2010 and will reach altitudes of over 62 miles allowing a five-minute experience of weightlessness.
Ms Epron later told Le Post that if the spaceship is not ready to fly passengers by 2011, Nestle would pay out a substitute prize of 147,000 euros (£116,500).
Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic is expected to be the first company to provide sub-orbital space flights to the general public, although an official launch date has not yet been set.
sky news
The wrapper contained a winning code for a competition to fly into sub-orbital space on board a new spacecraft.
Mathilde Epron says she bought the KitKat chocolate bar at her local supermarket - but threw the wrapper in the bin at first, telling herself "it's only others who win".
Two hours later, the 32-year-old decided to try her luck and returned to the bin to discover if she had won, only to find a winning code printed inside her wrapper.
Ms Epron told France Info radio that "for someone who works in air travel it's really a dream come true".
A spokeswoman for Nestle confirmed that Ms Epron had won the prize as part of a competition being run by the company in France.
The prize includes four days of astronaut training in Oklahoma City in the US before taking off in a new four-seater spacecraft.
The Rocketplane XP spacecraft could provide commercial space travel as early as 2010 and will reach altitudes of over 62 miles allowing a five-minute experience of weightlessness.
Ms Epron later told Le Post that if the spaceship is not ready to fly passengers by 2011, Nestle would pay out a substitute prize of 147,000 euros (£116,500).
Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic is expected to be the first company to provide sub-orbital space flights to the general public, although an official launch date has not yet been set.
sky news