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- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday March 21 2001 12.48 GMT
An American fast food chain is hoping to garner publicity from the crash landing of the Mir space station with the offer of a freebie to every American if the Mir hits a floating target in the Pacific.
Taco Bell has pledged to give every American a free taco if the Russian space station lands on its target, which carries a bull's-eye with the bell symbol in the centre and the words, "Free Taco Here".
A 20-tonne section of Mir is expected to fall into the Pacific Ocean on Friday morning British time. The target is floating 15km off the Australian coast.
Taco Bell company has even taken out an insurance policy to pay for all the free tacos, which would cost an estimated £7m.
But it is unlikely to have paid a very high price for the policy. Experts say the chances of the Mir landing on the 144 square metre target are virtually non-existent.
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