Five Things You Didn't Know: Space Tourism
Askmen.com has some answers
by Carol Pinchefsky
Askmen.com has kindly given us permission to quote their article, “Five Things You Didn’t Know: Space Tourism.”
Here's one point even SpaceFuture readers probably didn’t know:
"Astronaut Idol is in the works
"No, it’s not a joke; your eyes do not deceive you. Back in 2006, British billionaire Sir Richard Branson
-- boss of the Virgin Group, an empire of over 360 companies including Virgin Records -- revealed that he was in negotiations with British television networks to launch a talent show for aspiring astronauts: Astronaut Idol. Contests of the reality show would compete for a spot aboard a
Virgin Galactic suborbital flight. Filming was set to begin in 2007, but it’s unclear whether the project ever got off its feet. In fact, Astronaut Idol is one of literally dozens of space-themed reality shows that have been proposed in recent years, but none have made it to the screen, and it’s further unclear which shows are still undergoing development.
"Other notables include Destination Space, the brain-child of Survivor’s producer Mark Burnett. Originally entitled Destination Mir
, the reality show changed names and destination after the Mir space station fell out of orbit, instead planning to send one lucky cosmonaut on a week-long trip to the
International Space Station. First proposed back in 2000, Destination Space seems to have literally vanished into a black hole as no updates have emerged in recent years."
You can find the rest of the article, written by James Franek, here.
Here's one point even SpaceFuture readers probably didn’t know:
"Astronaut Idol is in the works
"No, it’s not a joke; your eyes do not deceive you. Back in 2006, British billionaire Sir Richard Branson
-- boss of the Virgin Group, an empire of over 360 companies including Virgin Records -- revealed that he was in negotiations with British television networks to launch a talent show for aspiring astronauts: Astronaut Idol. Contests of the reality show would compete for a spot aboard a
Virgin Galactic suborbital flight. Filming was set to begin in 2007, but it’s unclear whether the project ever got off its feet. In fact, Astronaut Idol is one of literally dozens of space-themed reality shows that have been proposed in recent years, but none have made it to the screen, and it’s further unclear which shows are still undergoing development. "Other notables include Destination Space, the brain-child of Survivor’s producer Mark Burnett. Originally entitled Destination Mir
, the reality show changed names and destination after the Mir space station fell out of orbit, instead planning to send one lucky cosmonaut on a week-long trip to the
International Space Station. First proposed back in 2000, Destination Space seems to have literally vanished into a black hole as no updates have emerged in recent years." You can find the rest of the article, written by James Franek, here.
