[imagesource: NASA]

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon was launched on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida earlier this year.

A day later, it automatically docked to a port on the International Space Station (ISS), marking the first time a private company has sent people into orbit.

While most celebrated the return of America’s capability for manned flights, production company Space Hero Inc., founded by Thomas Reemer and Deborah Sass and led by former News Corp Europe chief Marty Pompadur, started making other plans.

They want to create the first reality TV show centred around civilian space travel.

Deadline says that the concept for the TV show can be traced back to 2008 when Reemer was working on a girl band global talent search reality show. He met with Moscow’s Channel One CEO Konstantin Ernst, who suggested a show that sent people to the ISS.

“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?’” The two partnered to do just that.

The transition from girl bands to space travel seems natural.

Five years later and things are finally in the works. The company has secured a seat on the 2023 mission (should it go ahead as planned) onboard a SpaceX Dragon rocket to the ISS, which will go to one lucky contestant who beats out the competition on a show called Space Hero.

I truly hope that title is a work in progress.

The contestants will be “vying for the biggest prize ever awarded on TV”.

In order to win the prize, the contestants will have to undergo extensive training and face challenges testing their physical, mental, and emotional strength – qualities that are essential for an astronaut in space.

Viewers from different countries can vote for the contestant they want to see going to space. The show will then chronicle the winner’s takeoff; their stay at the ISS for 10 days alongside professional astronauts traveling at 17,000 mph, orbiting the Earth 16 times a day; and end with their return to Earth.

The company is also working with Axiom Space, the manufacturer of the world’s first privately funded commercial space station and full-service human spaceflight mission provider.

“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 Reemer, the project’s creator and founding partner, a software, e-commerce, gaming and digital distribution entrepreneur with extensive background in the music industry.

Seriously, how do those qualifications translate into space travel?

If this show keeps the same format that we’re used to in reality TV shows, this could be painful.

It’s going to be especially painful for the astronauts on the ISS who have to put up with the winner for 10 days.

What a time to be alive.

[source:deadline]