These reality shows are sending regular people to space
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/05/tech/who-wants-to-be-an-astronaut-space-hero-reality-television-scn/index.html
(CNN)The hottest new reality show isn't set in a house, on an obstacle course, or on the Jersey Shore. Television producers are betting on a new location: the International Space Station.
Two reality television shows are in the works that would offer a first for viewers by taking them inside the ISS, as a member of the public will be awarded a multi-million dollar experience to space as the grand prize on both. The Discovery Channel is considering "Who Wants to Be an Astronaut" while a competitor, "Space Hero," is hoping to land somewhere else.
The "Who Wants to Be An Astronaut" premise is simple and relies on traditional reality television tropes. Here on Earth, contestants will vie for an all-expenses-paid trip to live on the ISS for eight days. The as-yet unknown "variety of extreme challenges" are designed to determine which competitors have what it takes to be a real astronaut, and passage to space will be provided by Houston-based space broker Axiom Space. While NASA hasn't confirmed that Axiom Space will even be able to secure a seat on a commercial rocket, Discovery is confident in its plans. The media company has even enlisted former astronaut Mike Massimino's consulting services.
Unlike most astronauts, Massimino is no stranger to filming for entertainment purposes in space. While on a mission to repair the Hubble Telescope in 2009, he personally shot footage on the ISS for the Hubble documentary, using IMAX cameras to give viewers a close-up and realistic look at what goes into the process of repairing the telescope. "A lot of our training is what we call Photo TV training," the astronaut said. "And that's just to share the experience with the rest of the world to get documentation of the planet."
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