Henrietta the Cheerio

Henrietta the Cheerio was the name of the first cheerio to succesfully be launched beyond the earth's atmosphere. Her sucessful launch was the culmination of an 8 year NASA project to send a cheerio in to space (NASA was competing intensely with the Soviet Space Program, which hoped to send a jelly donut to the moon).

NASA's launch of Henrietta was thoroughly planned, and involved many tests and calculations, as explained by a former NASA employee: "Our first attempt to send Henrietta in to space was very thoroughly thought out. We went outside and threw her really, really hard. Despite our best efforts, our throws never sent her in to space, although she did land in a mud puddle a few times."

They next began working on a space suit for Henrietta, so she could breathe in the vacuum of space. They worked on the a suit design for 5 years before remembering that cheerios have no lungs, so a spacesuit was completely unnecessary.

They spent three years developing a massive space ship equipped with the most powerful rockets ever developed up to that point in history. The countdown reached zero, and the rockets kicked in...and the rocket shot in to the ground. The scientists had accidentally placed the rocket upside-down, causing it to launch not towards space, but deep in to the earth's crust. Thankfully, Henrietta survived the accident, though she spent several weeks in hospital.

Scientists hastily repaired the rocket with some well-placed duct tape, and this time they double-checked that the rocket was rightside up before putting Henrietta in it and launching it. The rocket launched succesfully, and Henrietta became the first cheerio to travel in to space.

Henrietta was only the first in NASA's very succesful breakfast cereal space program. Several years later, they sent a bowl of raisin bran to the moon, although they forgot the milk. They are hoping to send an entire box of frosted shredded wheat to Mars, although their plan may be doomed to fail because the local grocery store only has plain shredded wheat.