Had your share of 2020 and the future ain't looking too bright either?
We get it.
With the natural disasters, social unrest and a pandemic not seen in our lifetimes, or the ones before us, 2020 is - for all intents and purposes - a write-off.
But what if you could escape the nonsense of Earth and tick 'become an astronaut' off the bucket list?
You had my interest, now you have my attention" - Calvin Kandie, Django Unchained.
An unscripted show is doing just that.
And by "unscripted show" they're really saying "reality TV" but clearly trying to avoid the stigma of the heavily edited medium of television.
The show, named "Space Hero" will meticulously search for a prime candidate to thrust into the deep unknown and spend 10 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
It is the biggest prize in TV history if you look at the cost of sending a single person to space and housing them in the ISS.
Current estimates of sending a person to space are AU$69,244,900 and a single night on the ISS at AU$47,551.06. So, a round figure of about AU$69,482,655. Not bad at all.
The kicker?
There's actually training involved and the series has a lot of groundwork to do before the long journey of picking a candidate takes place.
Meaning this thing ain't getting off the ground (literally) until some time in 2023.
But if you're as disillusioned as we are with the way 2020 is, and how next year is shaping up to be, your appetite for planetary escape is turning into a gosh darn hunger.
But when we say a " prime candidate" will be selected, the criteria is the average Joe/Joeline.
“We see the world changing in front of our eyes. In times like these, we yearn to look up to people for the right reasons, so it’s time to look amongst ourselves to find the heroes that will inspire a bright future,” said Thomas Reemer, cofounder of Space Hero Inc. with serial entrepreneur Deborah Sass.
"The selected group of contestants will undergo extensive training and face challenges testing their physical, mental and emotional strength, qualities that are essential for an astronaut in space," according to Deadline who broke the story.
https://deadline.com/2020/09/space-hero-astronaut-reality-series-international-space-station-reality-tv-1234575932/
Then viewers will vote for their favourite candidate to go into space during a live broadcast and then follow their journey.
Space Hero Inc., the company providing the experience, is working alongside Axiom Space based in Houston, Texas and lead by Mike Suffredini, NASA's ISS program manager of 10 years.
If you've heard of Axiom, it may be because they are touted as the soon to be "first manufacturers of the world's first privately funded commercial space station". Like the ISS, but for commercial and space tourism purposes.
They will handle " all aspects of the 'Space Hero' private astronaut mission, from brokering the trip to the " to training the prospective space flyers, says Deadline.
"Along with constructing and operating the world’s first privately funded commercial space station, Axiom is the industry leader today in offering NASA-level astronaut training and full-service crewed missions to the International Space Station to all interested customers. We look forward to enabling 'Space Hero's' mission and further expanding human presence in space."
The means of transport the successful astronaut-to-be takes to the ISS has not been finalised, and reports of it being a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule have been denied by Axiom. Although they did confirm they are working with SpaceX on another project - a space journey for three paying customers to visit the ISS at an undisclosed time.
This comes on the back of NASA's head administrator, Jim Bridenstine's repeated calls for making commercial space tourism a priority.
If you're wondering if Space Hero is for real, they have some serious backing and authority behind the scenes. Reemer, mentioned before as co-founder, has extensive experience in software, e-commerce, gaming and digital distribution.
In fact, this is the second go-around for Reemer and the Space Hero project with the first attempt being canned in 2009 after the NASA shuttle project's unceremonious retirement.
“When 2015 came, it became clear that there would be more than just one rocket company available,” Reemer said. “At that moment it was only the Russians flying to the ISS, but in 2015 SpaceX and Boeing were gearing up to bring people back to the ISS from the United States as well, and so it became clear that there will be access capacity for those tickets. I talked to Debs about it and she said, ‘Why don’t you bring the show back again?'” They did, and here we are.
The introduction and values of SpaceX appear to be the catalyst of commercial spaceflight and getting investors on board. SpaceX, proving that private space is possible brought the Space Hero project back to life.
Now, Reemer and Sass have compiled the necessary infrastructure, interest and investors to make Space Hero a reality.
We can't hardly wait!
#Space_Aus
Why wait when you can dock your lips with ARSE?
Our galactic favourites come in an astro white or new black eclipse to suit your mood. These are a limited run and, like last time, won't last!
Click here if you want to slurp on some lovely brown from ARSE!
