French-Belgian cookware manufacturer Le Creuset has launched a limited-edition Star Trek collection to celebrate the sci-fi franchise’s 60th anniversary. To promote the nine-piece range, the company partnered with Sheffield commercial near-space flight firm Sent Into Space to hoist an enamelled cast-iron casserole dish 110,095 feet above England.
The stunt took place in Derbyshire, where a high-altitude balloon lifted the Enterprise Round Casserole into the stratosphere. The dish floated for 1 hour, 19 minutes, and 4 seconds, braving temperatures as low as -63.4°C before descending under a parachute at speeds topping 300 mph. It touched down safely in Lincolnshire farmland, clearing the way for the collection’s direct retail launch today.
Stratospheric Marketing vs Orbital Reality
While Le Creuset’s promotional material bills the event as sending cookware “into space”, the flight stayed within Earth’s atmosphere. At 110,095 feet (approximately 33.5 kilometres), the dish peaked in the middle stratosphere, well short of the 100-kilometre Kármán line that marks the boundary of outer space.
Planning a payload this heavy required close coordination with the UK Civil Aviation Authority to secure flight clearance and track telemetry across commercial flight corridors.
Chris Rose, co-founder at Sent Into Space, said in a statement:
Because of the weight, we had to give some serious consideration to how we were going to hold things, making sure everything was very balanced.”
“The legal authorities within the aviation community need to know. We can’t have a Le Creuset casserole dish floating past the window of an airborne A380 as it makes its way off to some destination. So we are in constant communication, both from a flight-clearance perspective before this ever leaves the ground, to onboard systems for telemetry and communication.”
Missing Gadgets and British Exclusives
A breakdown of product listings reveals notable discrepancies between international press coverage and what is on sale in the UK. Early US reports focused on a $68 cheese grater shaped like a communicator and a $40 baby blue Spock oven mitt. Neither item appears in Le Creuset’s UK web store.
Instead, the UK store highlights three £52 stoneware mini cocottes featuring classic adversaries from Star Trek: The Original Series. These celebrate Balok from The Corbomite Maneuver, the Gorn captain from Arena, and the Talosians from The Cage.
| Product | Capacity / Size | Material | UK Price |
| Star Trek Collection Enterprise Round Casserole | 26 cm / 5.3 L | Enamelled Cast Iron | £425.00 |
| Star Trek Collection Klingon Shallow Casserole | 30 cm / 3.5 L | Enamelled Cast Iron | £385.00 |
| Star Trek Collection Galileo Shuttlecraft Casserole | 1.6 L | Stoneware | £130.00 |
| Star Trek Collection Balok Mini Cocotte | 0.3 L | Stoneware | £52.00 |
| Star Trek Collection Gorn Mini Cocotte | 0.3 L | Stoneware | £52.00 |
| Star Trek Collection Talosian Mini Cocotte | 0.3 L | Stoneware | £52.00 |
| Star Trek Collection Klingon Trefoil Knob | Replacement knob | Metal | £40.00 |
| Star Trek Collection Live Long and Prosper Spoon Rest | 19 cm | Stoneware | £36.00 |
| Star Trek Collection Spock Mug | 0.4 L | Stoneware | £31.00 |
Collector Demand and the Secondary Market
Le Creuset has spent recent years expanding into fandom partnerships. Its 2024 Pokémon release and earlier Star Wars pieces sold out rapidly, driving items onto secondary auction sites at high markups.
With individual cast-iron pots priced above £400, this launch targets dedicated collectors rather than general home cooks. Fans hoping to secure items at retail prices will need to act before stock disappears.
You can view the full range directly on the Le Creuset UK Store.
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