Thursday, December 20, 2007

New Reality Show in the Spawning Stage

Someone in my household seems to relate on a personal level to reality show "Beauty and the Geek". If you're like her and that television treat isn't enough for you, Personal Spaceflight describes a plan for a new show:

The concept: put a bunch of, well, geeks, in, um, space. Actually, a simulated spaceship here on Earth, where the contestants, in a bizarre array of costumes, would live together while competing in challenges.

All I can say is, if they have to eat space maggots, as Beavis and Butthead would say, "We're there, dude."

On second thought, there had better be real space maggots, real spaceships, or at least a Devon Island level of realistic simulation of a space adventure, or I don't think I'll bother. Also, please
throw in some Zero-G rides in the contests.

Also, what ever happened to the "Right Stuff" image of astronauts? It probably would make sense to add some of that to the contestant mix, since TV is TV and, while geeks are after all a sure-fire ratings draw, photogenic contestants have been known to help ratings a bit now and then, too.

Anyway, the prize would be a suborbital space flight ... assuming one can be arranged. Let's not be cheap, now ... how about orbital? For all we know Bigelow flights might be available before suborbital tourism. At least throw in a few suborbital rides.