Reading Football Club launched its new home and away kit for 2016-17 into space quite literally.

Taking the concept of a kit launch to a new level, Reading launched its shirts 128,000 feet into the air. 

Clinging to their coat hangers, the home and away kits embarked on a 135-minute ascent from a top secret location reaching a maximum altitude of 39,084 metres, approximately 4 times the cruising altitude of most passenger jets.

Sporting sponsor, Carabao’s logo, the strips then parachuted safely back to Earth to land in a field somewhere between Thetford and Norwich, reaching a top speed of 211 mph on their way back to terra firma. 

The footage from the kit launch was broadcast live on the club’s official Facebook and YouTube channels as well as on the big screen in front of fans at Madejski Stadium, with the kits unveiled by the cameras in space at 10am Tuesday morning. 

The ‘rocket fuel’ needed to get the kits up into the atmosphere was supplied by kit sponsors Carabao, a South-East Asian energy drinks brand who became the Principal Partner of the Royals earlier this summer. 

High Altitude Ballooning looked after the launch and the various technicalities behind sending two shirts into space and getting them back in one piece.