Scientists at NASA had developed a gun whose purpose was to launch dead chickens at extreme velocities. No, this wasn't the result of over-competitive engineers at the annual Goddard Chicken Toss (though that would be a perfectly understandable consequence). The gun was used to shoot dead chickens at the windshields of airline jets, military jets, and the space shuttle (while they were parked, that is), at that vehicle's maximum velocity it would be traveling while in "bird space." As such, it simulated the frequent incidents of collisions with airborne fowl, and therefore determined if the windshields were designed strong enough.
British engineers, upon hearing of the gun, were eager to test the gun out on the windshield of their new high speed trains. However, upon firing the gun, the engineers watched in shock as the chicken shattered the windshield, smashed through the control console, snapped the engineer's chair backrest in two, and embedded itself into the back of the cabin. Luckily, the train was unmanned at the time.
Horrified, the engineers sent NASA the results of the experiment, along with the design of the windshield, and asked the NASA scientists for any suggestions.
NASA sent back a one-sentence response: "Thaw the chicken first."
