FA send free FA Cup final tickets into space

As part of the build-up to this year’s FA Cup final, English football’s governing body sent two tickets into the stratosphere for fans to claim.

At 6am this morning a balloon left Wembley Stadium headed for the stars, with the intention that it’d burst at a certain height and the tickets will fall back to Earth to be claimed. The FA estimate that they’ll land at around 9am within 100 miles from the stadium.

Via the @FA Twitter account GPS coordinates were published during the ascent and descent, as the tickets come back down attached to a parachute. They took to the air attached to a specially tailored meteorological balloon, following approval from the Civil Aviation Authority.

The balloon burst at around 7am, and the tickets were descending around Tunbridge and Maidstone as the 9am estimate neared.

The tickets are special in more ways than one, as the finders will get to be pitch-side before the game and have their photos taken with the trophy ahead of kick off.