Football club baffled as ‘space burger’ lands at training ground (VIDEO)

English football club Colchester United received a fast food-shaped bolt from the blue this week when a burger mysteriously landed at their training ground in Essex.

Staff at the club were left baffled when they came across a Big Mac attached to a polystyrene box and a GoPro camera at their Florence Park training complex in Essex on Wednesday.  

The club had no idea where the burger had come from, how it had got there, or why it had landed on their doorstep.  

But while staff were scratching their heads, they received a phone call from Tom Stanniland around 150 miles away in Sheffield.

Stanniland is a popular YouTuber, who explained he had launched the Big Mac into space with a weather balloon the day before, filming the stunt for his 2.7 million subscribers.

© YouTube / Killem

© YouTube / Killem

He had successfully launched the Big Mac into the air, only to lose contact with it as it soared higher and higher above the Earth.

It then reappeared with the locator showing the Colchester training HQ, prompting a three-and-a-half-hour drive for Stanniland to collect the fast food fruits of his experiment. 

© YouTube / Killem

Colchester showed how the series of events had unfolded on their Twitter account, from their initial amazement at finding the burger, to Stanniland’s arrival at the training ground – where he sampled the cosmic delights of McDonald’s finest.    

As you might expect, Stanniland's verdict on biting into the burger that had boldly gone into the skies was that it was somewhat flavorless following its journey.

“It’s not nice, it’s drying my mouth out!” Stanniland exclaimed.

In the full film of the burger launch, Stanniland detailed how he had intended for the burger to reach 100,000ft (around 20 miles) into the air – technically not outer space, which starts at around 60 miles up, but still incredibly impressive.

On recovering his downed burger he revealed the footage of its flight, which showed just how spectacularly high the fast food item had soared above the Earth.

It was the latest in a series of weird and wacky feats Stanniland, 29, has shared with his YouTube following, with some of his videos – including ‘I crossed countries at sea in a zorb ball' – amassing tens of millions of views.    

Colchester, meanwhile, have enjoyed the new-found fame their lucky fast food encounter has brought, with their Twitter thread chronicling the tale racking up more than 2,000 ‘likes’ and counting.

Their attentions will return to more down-to-earth matters when they take on Cambridge United away in England's League Two on Saturday.

‘The U’s’ currently lie ninth in the table, with an outside chance of sneaking into the top seven and the playoff spots.

They will be hoping that some of the stardust from their fast food visitor will rub off on the team.