American production company Space Hero Inc. is launching a groundbreaking reality TV series where contestants undergo rigorous space training. The ultimate prize: a 10-day stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Space travel remains prohibitively expensive for most, but this contest offers a rare opportunity to experience Earth from orbit—by winning a globally broadcast competition. As reported by Deadline and echoed by Numerama, participants from around the world will compete, with the public selecting the victor for an all-expenses-paid ISS ticket.
Space Hero Inc. is partnering with Axiom Space, a leader in private spaceflight founded by former NASA executives. Axiom specializes in missions for private astronauts to the ISS and plans to attach up to four modules to the station, eventually detaching them to create an independent commercial outpost.
Axiom has yet to finalize its launch provider, but SpaceX appears the frontrunner over Boeing. Boeing's Starliner capsule has not yet carried astronauts to space, while SpaceX achieved a historic crewed flight in May and schedules another with four astronauts for October.
Cost is another factor: Starliner seats run about $90 million each, compared to SpaceX's $50 million. Axiom already contracted SpaceX in 2021 to fly four private astronauts to the ISS aboard Crew Dragon.
No firm launch date yet amid the pandemic, but Deadline indicates the mission will occur after 2023.
To date, only about a dozen tourists have visited the ISS, all via Russia's Soyuz capsules—the last being Canadian Guy Laliberté for 10 days in 2009. Private companies are now poised to transform access.
Beyond Axiom-SpaceX, Space Adventures is negotiating with Russia's RSC Energia for missions potentially including the first tourist spacewalk.
This marks the first reality TV show to deliver a real spaceflight winner. A similar idea from Mars One, funding a Mars mission via TV, failed when the company went bankrupt years ago.
