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NBC Signs Up To Broadcast "Destination Mir"
Fraser Cain writes: "Mark Burnett, producer of the hit show "Survivor," has sold the rights to his new show, "Destination Mir" to NBC for $40 million. The show will follow a group of 13-15 would-be cosmonauts as they train for a trip to the Mir space station."
I love this line from the article: "Each week, a contestant will be removed by Russian Space Officials until the final winner is launched into orbit on a special, live broadcast." I certainly hope the Russian Space Officials are gentle with both the runners up and the eventual winner.
Ship 7 people up to mir, force them to perform tasks in zero-G between puting out fires and sealing holes... whoever wins that week, gets to come home. Thats a real "Survivor"
Dirty Pirate Hooker
Yep, it's been there a long time. Hasn't killed anyone yet (scared 'em a bit -- but it was a US astronaut who's now trying to make big $$ on book sales, that it apparently scared the most... Shannon Lucid, OTOH, appears to have had bigger ovaries than the aforementioned astronaut did.
Oh, yeah! It's just like when NASA scrapped the last couple of functional Saturn V launchers (literally laid 'em out as lawn exhibits), so they couldn't compete with the Shuttle... NASA doesn't want anything to compete with the IIS (and especially they don't want Russia to spend rubles on other stuff, seeing that they don't have very many of them, and their space funds have largely come from NASA anyhow!)
Low Earth Orbit == Decaying Orbit. Mir has been reboosted several times, just as Salyut before it, and the IIS after it. SkyLab was supposed to be reboosted, too -- but Shuttle wasn't ready in time, so it sorta rained parts on Australia...
Reboosting is just part of what needs to be done, not a reason to avoid Mir.
Because it's there, just like Mt. Everest?
I suggest you ask people like climbers, skydivers, scuba divers, pilots... you'll find lots of people who can't figure out why you don't want to do it!
Me, I'd go in a hot second.
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Politics is about making compromises. Religion isn't. --Michael Horton
1) Has anyone fixed the leaks in the Spektr module yet?
..
2) Does the cosmonaut training include lessons in how to realign the platform to the sun before it loses power?
3) Do we *have* to go up on a Soyuz/Proton?
I'm not even going to discuss EVA's, or whether or not the "winner" is going to be drafted to do any in order to keep the crew alive
73 de N5VB (ex-KD5BIV) AR SK
I did some searching around and found http://www.mirstation.com./news_news15. html It gives a more in-depth look at what the show hopes to do (other than draw ratings)
/. is a commercial entity. goto slashdot.com
in which the kid wins a contest to go to any place on earth, and construes the rule to force the sponsors to send him to the space station?
"..don't you eat that yellow snow."
You only drive 400 times a year?
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
And to think I hought it was a joke, but The Bug scooped this one last month. Well...almost.
Sleep is just a poor substitute for caffeine, anyway. -Bob Lehmann
The deal is, last week the producers offered the remaining 6 contestants $500k to walk out of the house; the contestant that left would be replaced by a buxom young blonde (seriously!) for the remainder of the show. None of the contestants took it, and were themselves outraged that all 6 are threatening to walk out of the house at the same time as to end the show and to split the grand prize 6 ways. CBS is of course furious if this happens, but many predict this might be the windfall for the 'real life' gameshows if networks try to intervien too much into them.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
whoever the Russian mafia says. I mean, really, do they think they can keep this uncorrupted? There going to use all Russian models, and the winner is going to be a fat woman in a black dress like in those old Pepsi ads: "Shvimvear.... Shpacesuit..."
Pope Felix the Scurrilous.
Pope Felix the Scurrilous.
Computer Geek by day, religious Icon by night.
I don't think Mir is much different from Skylab, which would have survived until today except that we put all of our eggs in the Shuttle basket and then had nothing to maintain its orbit after that solid-fuel firecracker did what firecrackers often do. Had Skylab survived, it might be just as nasty today :-)
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
Actually, in Russian, the word is borchsh. The "chsh" is my my best attempt to transliterate a soft "sh" sound -- it is about the same sound you would use when telling a child to be quite. There is not t at the end.
Rhapsody in Numbers
John Rocker blo up even before launch...
hey, there's an idea - I know who to send to Mir.....
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"It's tough to be bilingual when you get hit in the head."
Using a pencil on a space station would be a big no-no; considering that chunks of the pencil itself would be flying off all the time, graphite dust would be flying everywhere (mucking up machines as well as lungs), and you'd have a hell of a time using a conventional pencil-sharpener.
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Soma: because a gramme is better than a damn.
This was also done on either SNL or MadTV (forget which i saw it on) they mocked up the Who wants to be a millionaire set. the contestent was up to a whole bowl of rice and one question away from winning a goat...
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I take no responsibility for any spelling mistakes in the above post.
Please do not propogate this urban legend. It is not true.
I think we started out with the goal of losing no lives. We lost more anyway, but I'm not sure the Soviets #1 goal was to lose no lives.
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
The final looser remaining gets to be the one to steer the station on a crash-collision course with the Pacific Ocean. Re-entry must begin over North America at 8pm EST on a clear night.
NEWS? Try their TV shows! Ugh...someone pull a Kevorkian and pull the plug already!
Sig it.
'The Real World' goes to SpaceCamp.
Count me excited.
--K
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But I might actually apply. And, if Russian space officials are doing the selecting, have a chance at making it. Why might I be selected? Reasons:
In short, I'm alot closer to real astronauts in ability, training and desire than the average person on the street.
Why would I do this? A few reasons:
Yes, I know it could be really dangerous. But, for me, the rewards could be considerable. No, I wouldn't recommend this for most people. Read Dragonfly by Bryan Burrough for reasons.
Going up to Mir really scares me. See Dragonfly. Even applying does so. But it might be worth it.
Opinions? Is this completely crazy?
"Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy." -- B. Franklin
Hmm... where are they going to get 15 people who would even want to go up into that tin can?
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
Just imagine if the "winners" rocker blows up a few seconds after launch.
Ouch.
-henrik
Apollo 12 landed on the moon 11/19/1969 and returned safely to Earth with Conrad, Gordon and Bean
Apollo-12 mission summary
There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.
are going to let the Mir decay in its orbit and gradually crash into to ocean. OH WAIT...that would be NBC's ratings!
Sig it.
Heh, that actor is Swedish. Just so you know.
His name is Peter Stormare.
He was in that Jurrasic Park 2 movie along with some other nice films.
English is not my first language, so cut me some slack -: Om du kan lasa det har sa kan du Svenska
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"Rock over London... Rock on Chicago..." -Wesley Willis
I'm glad that even in the misery that these shows seem destined to reap upon us, someone has figured out how to make a buck off those who fain dislike and secretly can't get enough of it.
can you say "opportunity of a lifetime"? I think that would be an amazing trip.
or one hell of a publicity stunt for MIR/NASA or whatever agency you want....
Atticka
No sig here...
When someone wins, and they get to be shot into space.. which contry is going to do the shoting?? USA has a far better/safer program, but Russia is cheaper, and gives you that genuine "Cosmonaut" experience.....
Dirty Pirate Hooker
Who will survive six months on the MIR?
If past missions are any indication, this could be a really exciting show! Gas leaks, collisions, power failures... Getting voted off the station (with no way home!) and more!
The story was passed around on the net as a "this is how one bug can cost billions" thing, where there was a float that was trying to be pushed into a place with fewer bits than necessary. Core dumps in rockets aren't good.
How about a show where 10-20 groups of people (engineers, probably) build robots that race over extreme terrains (sand, wind, cold, hot, water, etc). Say you start at 20 teams. Before each race, the teams are given an explanation of what they are to design and a week(or four) to design it. Every race you could throw out the two slowest robots(or the one slowest if you want to drag it out). After 10-20 shows, you'd have the winning team who would win a chance to build a robot that goes to Mars.
That would be an interesting show and it would get something useful accomplished at the same time.
Perhaps, though, I'm underestimating the time it akes to build something that is ready for space travel? Nahh...hehe.
Withdrawal before climax is very ineffective and those who try this are usually called "parents."
Just had to comment, check out this. Pizza Hut comments are valid :)
Or maybe the losers have to go to the space station and try to hold it together with some rope and a couple of safety pins. That would be REAL survivor!
Opinions? Is this completely crazy?
:-)
YES. And I hope to hell I beat you for that spot
My Weblog
Your average joe from a nation where %80 of the population does not know what happens when you flip a light switch.
It would be highly amusing; Unfortunately, Mir would be trashed in the process.
Where's the submit button??
By the way, in each segment, something went horribly wrong...
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"Rock over London... Rock on Chicago..." -Wesley Willis
I just got off the phone with NBC, and they told me that they'll be announcing the method people will use to sign up for the competition in about a month.
One way will be through the web.
As soon as I hear more, I'll pass it along.
Publisher, Universe Today - http://www.universetoday.com
That said, I would still go.
Where do I sign up?
Just be sure to wear the gold uniform when you beam down -- you know what happens when you wear the red one.
apollo 12, I think...
Change your name to Carbon Rod. Sure winner.
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
Yeah, doesn't make sense at all...an American producer, making a show destined for an American audience, having the cast of the show be Americans. Don't know what he was thinking.
Of course, there could probably be a Canadian or two on the show, and I don't think anyone would even notice.
And now a word from our sponsors... pizza hut!
Kat -- Alcohol and calculus don't mix. Never drink and derive.
I did that on my last birthday. I almost had an unfortunate accident with the flux capacitor, however, and this time I plan to be fully clothed.
Got Rhinos?
i wanna go to mir. i somehow doubt that training for space missions is going to make for great prime-time entertainment, though.
wishus
Vote for freedom!
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Anyone remember that crazy russian space station guy from that one movie? You know what I'm talking about... Anyway, that's what I picture happening.
Got Rhinos?
Well at least the russians haven't parked their space station in the outback. I also heard a story about the russian and pens in space. Normal ballpoint pens don't work in space. American solution: Spend lots of money and develop pens that work in space. Russian solution: use pencils. For extra credit guess what a major part of the first mission to skylab was. Well I'll spare the suspense. It was to fix it. You see would couldn't even launch the damn thing without breaking it. Skylab only had three crews before we ran out of money and ultimately treated the aussies to a multimillion dollar fireworks show. I have no clue how many crews mir has had, except it is a damn sight more than three. Considering the harsh enviroment in which mir operates, it has lasted exceptionally well. BTW do you think it is an accident that of the three modules of the ISS currently in space that 2 were built by russians.
My Weblog
You will be greeted at Mir with: slow degeneration of your muscles, great tasting food, and fires in the living quarters. Great Prize.
Not until a couple of the cosmonauts sneak off into the jungle outside Novosibirsk for a bit of nookie.
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E_NOSIG
Got Rhinos?
Is to send 14 ppl up and cram them into Mir, and have them eliminated 1 by 1.
Now *that* would be entertainment......
Feed The Need[goatse.cx]
Pfft..FOX has all sorts of stuff up their sleve:
World's scariest near-misses by asteroids
Single Female Lawyer In Space
The Simpsons on Mars
All of course followed by that great FOX News coverage you expect of the show you just watched along with other topical news ("Will Space Debris Fall on Your House? Find out at 10PM!").
-- Ever notice that fast-burning fuse looks exactly the same as slow-burning fuse? I didn't... (Edgar Montrose)
The Onion beat you to it - Who wants to eat a meal?
censorship is a form of noise, which actively seeks to drown out content with silence - Crash Culligan
How long IS that game? :)
Comment removed based on user account deletion
So much for the *international* space effort.
Am I getting through now? Thank you.
Bruce Perens.
A guy with no legs! That's the one! Damn - you don't know the title either :-( Time to consult rec.arts.sf.writen! (One of the few good newsgroups left IMHO)
PS I've read 'Have Spacesuit Will Travel'. I'd forgotten about that but it's not the actual one I'm after.
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-- SIGFPE
That is one of the reasons I pulled out.
:-) ) I just like to manage the level of that risk. I might be willing to apply for the Mir trip, but I would want to review their procedures carefully first.
Seriously, I arranged for rescue along with 4 other people only partially because I didn't like the way things were being done. When the 5 of us were rescued about 300 miles from the South Pole (the group was on their way there), we were told by the pilot of the rescue plane that if we'd been ANY further south that air rescue would be impossible due to the terrain. That would have meant the 20 people would have had to walk out and the were NOT equipped for that. The fact that there were 5 less people (and their gear) to deal with did help the group on the way back.
Like I said, no one died or was even seriously injured. And yes, the Russian were masters of improvisation when it comes to fixing things, but I wasn't willing to risk my life based on their word they would get us back safely. Since they had continuously mislead the group to that point, quite frankly, I didn't trust them. That is why I pulled out when, and where, I did.
I'm not averse to taking risks, after all, I started the trip with a skydive into Antarctica for Y2K. (I was dropping when the ball in NY was.
Who wants to be a charcoal briquette?
The Fisher corporate office is in Boulder city on the route between Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam. It doesn't look like the kind of establishment that runs $2M research programs. I'm not putting them down - I can't even spell the name for the semi-solid ink, no less pronounce it. But I suspect there's a little hyperbole involved in the price tag on that research.
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
People have different risk limits. Some people are afraid to leave their house. Others go BASE jumping, a sport with a very high death rate. I'm getting my pilot's license. Risky? To an extent, yes: if I screw up badly I will die, and the death rate in general aviation is not zero. (Hell, there was another fatal midair in Florida today.)
Looking at the history of spaceflight over the last 10-20 years, an astronaut has something on the order of a 1-2% chance of death on a given mission. Assume the Russians are horrible right now and that they're 5x worse than they were in their heyday. That's still only a 10% death rate. The number of people willing to have an experience like flying in space against a 10% chance of death is not zero. I'd think about it if I wasn't in the process of adopting a kid right now. (Families distort risk balances.)
Go into it with your eyes open, realizing the risks, but if that's ok, go.
Eric
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
I belive you get the car. I saw some clips of one of the losers getting hauled out of the car and beaten for about 5 minutes. Fuck up show. Hadn't heard that they really go to jail though.
Life is a disease, sexually transmitted and fatal.
You know, in all the time I've been moderating, I've yet to find a post that was, in my opinion, overrated. You only get five points, and it only takes a few minutes to find 3 or 4 interesting, insightful or informative posts and 1 or 2 trolls or flamebaits. Who has time to mess with overrated? Yet I find my posts marked down as overrated all the time. Are the moderators jealous of my +1 bonus?
I've not used it this time to save you the effort, and me some of my almost-maxed-out karma.
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E_NOSIG
that the winner will remember about "Destination Mir"
5: Space station commander saying to the lucky winner: "If one of our cosmonauts breaks something, it's your fault that he broke it."
4: Beer to share with the cosmonauts: $200
Repairing damage done to Mir by smashing the empty beer bottles against it: $25 million
Deploying a Russian spy satellite to snap pictures of your ex-wife/girlfriend sleeping with another man: priceless.
3: Water coming out of water tank is actually vodka that was smuggled on board during your drop-off
2: Heating system on board consists of layers of blankets and Siberian Huskie pelts.
1: Mir Commander: "Welcome aboard space station Mir."
Winner: "Don't you mean 'Deepshit Nine'."
Typical Russians...you'd think they'd want to launch them using a rocket or something...
-- PondScum, SamThe
Perhaps they could shoot Martha Stewart up to Mir. Not that I would watch it, but at least she wouldn't be around here.
Actually, maybe I would like watching her try and dock that thing.
It's not a Harrison novel. I remember reading this too. It's definately by A.C. Clarke and one of the characters was missing his legs. And nobody was thrilled to see him arrive on the station either. Can't remember the #$%$#@% name either though...
"Just once, I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets." -- The Brigadier, Dr. Who
Mir is cramped, loud, and somewhat dangerous
Not too different from my surroundings right now.
Something George W could do when he loses his bid for election this fall is start up a survivor type show with inmates on death row, and each week someone new dies. Now that I'd watch.
(`._(`._( , , . JimmyPop[nL] . , , )_.)_.)
Got Rhinos?
...the subject will be forced to watch Survivor episodes and build himself a couple of robots for company....
/.
/. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
I hadn't seen that - most hilarious!!
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Gort! Klatu Barata Nikto!
NASA's budget they couldn't afford a slingshot.
Sig it.
As much as I want to go into space, even I have some hesitation about applying for this. I've been to Russia and built a couple of experiments that have flown on MIR, so I have some first hand observations about this. First, the Russians are in this for the money, period. When I went there as part of a Boeing experiment team, everything was about what could they do to soak more cash from us and they could care less about the flight. Secondly, their infrastructure is shot, particularly at the launch site. Third, they are totally unable to keep to a schedule - look at the Space Station, it's 2 years late from Russians having to delay their main part. Most importantly, this thing can't be declared safe. MIR is fifteen years old, it's had a fire and a major depresurization while US astronauts were aboard, either of which could have easily killed someone. Look at their recent sub disaster and TV station fire, too - they are just stretched too thin running old equipment with people that haven't been paid in far too long. It sounds romantic, but it's being pushed by people with NO spaceflight experience and little if any experience with the realities of Russia today. The Russians aren't going to raise a single flag as long as there's enough zeros on the end of the check. If this pulls thru, it's going to be luck more than anything....
The first science fiction story I read was about a young kid who won a competition that allowed him to ask for a spaceflight as prize. That was probably around 1975. After all these years it's finally come true! Of course the original author couldn't have guessed just how tacky a show it would be in the year 2000. Now I'd love to reread this book. Can anyone ID it for me? I think it may have been written by AC Clarke. Did he write such a book? I vaguely remember that the prize was actually a trip anywhere in the world and the prizegivers were actually surprised the kid chose a space station. Ring any bells with anyone? Anyway...it's a great thing this is happening. Anything that gets interest in spaceflight means we might actually catch up with where science fiction writers expected us to be by now.
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-- SIGFPE
When the U.S. astronauts visited Mir, they brought their Fisher Space Pens. Those were no doubt the most reliable pieces of equipment on the space station.
When NASA realized that a regular pen doesn't work in zero G they set on a big expensive project to develop a special pen.
The russians use pencils.
The aging space shuttle is not more reliable than Mir, it's just that it can run back to mommmy earth at the slightest hint of trouble and get the several month long overhaul it needs before each flight.
The russians tough it out and solve their problems. You gotta respect that. Which of these approaches results in more useful experience for future habitation in space?
The state of Mir is more a matter of public perception than actual fact.
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Stop worrying about the risks of nuclear power and start worrying about the risks of not using nuclear power.
It's not really fair to keep on bashing Mir's supposed "unreliability". Remember that it was designed and built to operate only until 1992-1993 (don't remember the exact date), which means that it has been used for 7-8 years longer than its scheduled operational life. I, for one, would like to see how does the space shuttle operate in 2025... if it's still operating at all.
Hopefully this time sending a civilian into space will turn out better than in 1986.
Actually, the Fisher company does pretty well for itself, and did so even before the Space Pen, I understand. When I lived in Boulder City, they were a cornerstone of the business community, but had just moved there in the late 70's (perhaps abandoning their multi-million-dollar research compound ;^). Although $2M might be exaggerated, I imagine the equipment to produce that special ink and nitrogen-pressurized ink cartridges could get costly. But hey, they still do quite a business (and are still on every manned NASA mission), so it was an excellent investment whatever the actual price was.
you forgot Big Brothers Nasty Nick (sadly only of relevance in the UK)
This would honestly make a great TV show, if you got around the possible death, dismemberment, life inprisonment, etc problems. :)
Q.
Thanks to Bob Rivers of Twisted Tunes, there's a perfect theme song for the show. Click here (ISDN line speed or better required. 28.8k version here) .
Better Mir than the Shuttle.
There's only one Mir, and it has worked provably well for just about as many years as the shuttles have been around -- but Mir has never killed anyone, and the Shuttle has.
Given that the shuttles need a 3-6 month overhaul after every piddly flight, and they are STILL notoriously unreliable, I don't give the constant Mir-bashing much shrift.sounds like a ride at Disney World.
It's going to be. The Epcot attraction Mission: Space, sponsored by Compaq, is scheduled to open in 2003. "Offering guests a one-of-a-kind ``astronaut-like'' experience, Mission: SPACE will launch guests into a simulated space adventure -- from pulse-racing lift-off to weightlessness in outer space."
No word yet on whether it will be running Linux, Tru64 Unix, VMS, or Windows NT.
Given that the discussion revolves around RELIABILITY and that Skylab WASN'T RELIABLE, that seems a rather odd statement to make.
As other people have mentioned, pencils make dust, which is a problem in the microgravity environment. You either clog your filters with it or you breathe it.
Bruce Perens.
I think Fisher has said elsewhere that he spent a lot of money on research to make the pen. Nobody's shown yet any evidence that the U.S. government spent a lot of money to make it.
Bruce Perens.
Unfortunately, in "Big Brother" the good people of America voted out all of the "extreme stereotypes" and made the house extremely dull. I stopped watching that show after they voted the exotic dancer out. I mean, who wants to watch a roofer, a law student, and some other thoroughly uninteresting people sit around all day?
For more information, click here.
Oh yes, it's conductive.
Bruce Perens.
Reminds me of that Discovery Channel series 'Wings'; the one episode they were talking about the Russian 'Air Force' (really, there are three I think) where they were selling SU-27 rides to anyone with $20,000 and a signed release form.
Showed a guy all smiles and jumping up and down handing them the cash, signing any form they put in front of him and going through a 'training' which was basically how to put on the flight suit and how to pull the ejection handle.
Once they had the cash and release in hand, they were anything but 'gentle'. This guy got his money's worth on high-g turns, negative-g dives and gut-wrenching rolls. They helped him out of the plane looking about as pale as a gallon of milk. The Russians were chuckling and winking at each other.
'boy, I thought I knew what flying was about after playing combat flight simulators on my computer at home. this was _nothing_ like that!'
There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.
Brak! Sometimes I hate it when I'm right 8^)
;-0
>Mission: SPACE will launch guests into a simulated space adventure -- from pulse-racing lift-off to weightlessnes
Sounds just like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride with different scenery
Or, more likely, like the Body Wars/Back to the Future/can't think of the other one right now style of ride... a bunch of people in a tin can (like the Bud driver simulators) on hydraulics, with surround video and sound, rumble seats, etc.
Or maybe they just moved space mountain into the Golf Ball 8^)
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"It's tough to be bilingual when you get hit in the head."
Do we really want people who would engage in the kind of back-biting that went on in "Survivor" going to space?
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-- Slashdot sucks.
Ya know, I still don't understand calling this a new fad. Candid Camera is one of the oldest shows on television after all!
Survivor/Real World/et alia are just sitcoms to Candid Camera's sketch comedy.
"Tips your waitress".
Ditto
Dirty Pirate Hooker
The upshot is, people like voyeurism. Always have, always will.
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
I haven't seen any info on what they're looking for in contestants, what the procedure is for auditions, etc. The show may be part of an already dying genre, but I'll be damned if I don't want to at least TRY to get up in space.
There's not much international about MIR, especially now that it's commercially owned. I think the proper term now is "commercial space effort - who's got cash?" ;>
-Denor
... about as well as "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire."
I must have missed the alternative ending of "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire." You know, the part where all the contestants were sucked out into the cold void of space. The happy ending.
Slashdot is jumping the shark. I'm just driving the boat.
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
I just watched "Space Cowboys" recently - and it was damn funny watching them on the graviton (or whatever the centerfuge thingy is called)... can you image watching normal people on it?
;)
It would actually be pretty scary to see what it would do to the female form though...
BlackNova Traders
Meanwhile in Russia
After a national competition 118 russians won the chance to live inside submarine stuck at the bottom of the Barents Sea.
Then each day they must vote on who gets to the food, water and air. The losers get ejected into the sea. The particpants are under constant scrutiny from the worlds media AND 1000 feet of arctic water.
They're sole method of communication with the outside world is banging on the side of the metal hull. The winner is the one left surviving at the end and will receive $100,000,a Ford Probe and media licensing.
Today's task was to connect up an electric generator in the dark.
Does any one know what else is needed?
Street cred?
("I'm a top producer and you know it")
Negotiation with other networks?
("Yeah, this is just an idea, but your lawyers can protect it if you sign a deal with me")
Secured exclusive rights needed on the way?
("The Russians will only talk to me, you see")
Please let me know and I'll be at it first thing in the morning!
Not being from the UK, and not having watched Big Brother, I can say that I have no idea who "Nasty Nick" is.
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Next week:-
Escape from The Highest Elevator in Moscow, while it's on fire.
Last march, Canadian astronaut Judith Lapierre almost walked out of a long-term space station simulation experiment when a drunken russian astronaut started making passes at her.
Is this the kind of crap we can expect from Destination MIR ?
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Reality TV is an oxymoron, moron!
South Park is more real than some one getting sent to mir.
Movie News - "Entertainment news, bitch!"
The reason for this "fad" is that TV producers/networks are terrified that there will be both an actors' and writers' strike next season.
Since "reality" shows don't need either writers OR actors, they want to fill up their schedule with lots of them, just in case...
paul
Silly Rabbit, sigs are for kids.
Why don't they just dub episodes of Interceptor into the US?
The object of the show is to drive around in a car(in Russia, this ain't no sound stage) and avoid the cops for a certain amount of time. Basically, this is a real life version of Grand Theft Auto. I think if you lose, you go to jail for real(what a rip!). This is a real-life show that EVERY American would turn to just to see if some innocent bystander gets run-over so some game show contestant can beat the clock.
... about as well as "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire."
I would take that chance in a second. To turn the question around, what do you think the odds are that commercial spaceflight will ever become viable in your lifetime? I regard spaceflight as one of the shining scientific achievements of all time, and I bet that I, personally, will never get a chance to take part in it. The odds that I'll be able to afford to take a trip into space are about 0. Thus, I have to look for other alternatives. Mir isn't the safest, but the Soyuz rockets are reasonably reliable. All spacecraft are built by the lowest bidder, so why worry about this one?
Walt
P.S. Does anyone know where I sign up to become a "Geek in Space"?
What is this non-stop stream of crap that comes out these days? A contest to get shot into space to an aging space station?
Whatever happened to shows like the "Honeymooners", with each and every show having it's own set of trials and tribulations, but Jackie Gleason still kissed his wife at the end of every show with the line "Baby, you're the greatest?"
Who can forget the hilarity and freshness of "I love Lucy", or the ground-breaking performances on the Sullivan Show. Or even the hokiness of "The Andy Griffith Show".
Or even when television and the evening news used to be a reliable source of information?
These days instead of having a man telling his wife that she's "the greatest", we have them screaming obscenities at each other on the Jerry Springer show.
Instead of entertainers, we have this non-stop flow of purile "reality" shows.
The news we now get is so biased, with each and every of the major stations owned and operated by a large corporation out for their own best interests and will just allow you to see what THEY want you to see. It's very sickening. I'm not a "fogey" by any means, I'm only 22, but I can remember watching those shows as re-runs and the state of entertainment and television being alot more about entertaining in those days.
I've heard that a significant motivation is a threatened script writers' strike. Reality = no writers to worry about in execs' eyes.
Geeks wanting to watch will be disappointed that the training is watered down and average Joe and Joan Sixpack will be confused because there will be a show of the constestants doing trigonometry problems calculating thrust coefficients and the like.
Besides, as with Big Brother, we can see the allure of Reality TV is going away. Survivor II will be a real test of the durability of this genre.
Listen, Sigmund, we'll discuss it in the morning.
Recent story on Discovery chanel. The Real story of the russian space program. They blew up more spacecraft than the US ever produced. it took them 4 TRYS to get their heavy launch vehicle (I forget the name.. big thingie.. 30 or so engines) off the pad. not testing, real launches. Blew them all to hell. We never knew due to cold war blackout and iron fist on the media. Don't know what their human deth tole is, but I bet the % is far worse than us.
Dirty Pirate Hooker
For $40M NBC could have done 'Survivor' with more entertainment value, such as:
Championship Quarterbounce
John Madden vs. Dennis Miller, Who Can Ramble On Longest Without Accidentally Commenting on the Game
/. Effect: Contestants must keep servers from crashing
South-Of-The-Border Water Drinking Contest, be the last to get Moctezuma's Revenge
Silicon Valley Survivor: Snow Wall Street and keep your dotcom alive the longest without a viable product! :o)
Java Survivor: Write the most lines of code before finding API is documented wrong
TV Survivor: Watch TV the longest without raiding the fridge. (Time deducted for comatose periods)
Vote Naked 2000
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Are one of them going to insist on "zero-G" training in the nude on their birthdays????
-- Life: Hate the Game... Love the cereal
Anything in low-earth orbit is in a decaying orbit. Operating lifetime as decided by whom? The engineers who built the thing designed for five years. That is, it was guaranteed to work for five, much like your car has a three-year warranty. Would you be afraid to get in a 40-year-old car that originally came with a five-year warranty?
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
This is all a secret plot of the Russians to hold the winner captive on the space station and force him/her to watch cheesey movies... Next step, they'll rename Mir to the Space Station of Love...
I'd like to think that no other nation on the face of the planet would WANT to be involved with something like this. Please don't ruin it for me.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
That's so hokey!
I guess now we'll get to see all those space ads for Pizza Hut and Taco Bell... ;>
When trying to compare English and Russian languages, I find the origin of such a difference in approaches.
;-)
English grammar is much stricter, and both the grammar and lexics are much less tolerant to distortions, i.e. you can distort the words and/or word order much more and still be understood correctly in Russian. With English you need to be more accurate and pay attention to all details; slight distortion, such as using one time instead of another, might change the whole meaning of the phrase.
This is IMHO where Russian sloppiness/ingenuinity and American anal-retentivness/atention to details originate
Tigers respect lions, elephants and hippos. Maggots respect no one. (C) S. Dovlatov
That the above is the dumbest thing that I've ever heard. Christ, first CBS rips the viewers away from ABC, now NBC is ripping it away from CBS. You know what I'm going to do? Rip my TV outta the wall. There's nothing good on anymore Wednesday Nights... Fergs
- The Ferg webmaster@na.mdc.net
Why don't they just put all the contestants in a Russian Sub instead?
Why don't they pick 15 "Well Hated" people and send them all up, see who lasts the longest.
/. editor here)
Hmm. Who would they send up? Here's my (mostly random) picks:
1. Bobby Knight
2. John Rocker
3. Shawn Walsh
4. Rae Carruth
5. Carl Everett
6. Dennis Rodman
7. Monica Lewinski
8. O.J.
9. Bill Gates
10. Any Random MPAA or RIAA executive
11. Any member of a so-called "Boy Band"
12. Dr Evil
13. Madonna (deserves to die for her rendition of American Pie)
14. That annoying little girl from the Pepsi commercials
15. (Insert your least favorite
Hmm, almost like a slashdot poll.
-
That reminds me-- I've been meaning to print up bumper stickers that read "My other startup is up my nose."
Hell i like a previous suggestion, lets get all 14 of them crammed into mir first, then lets all vote them off the station one a day for two weeks. The last one to leave gets to actually come back to earth on a shuttle, and not just be blown out of an air lock. Make the contestants convicts (or end users, either way) and you would have my attention at 7pm (9 central) for 14 strait days.
As for sending up somebody "unbalanced" to see what he would do? well hell that would be about the same, only the tension would be alot higher as you wait to see what the poor sap does..Does he blow himself out the airlock or mess up the control systems and bring mir crashing down onto new york?
-Vote Ventura and Powell in 2004!
I am Jack's complete lack of surprise. -Fight Club
The Mir show will be boring, like the other shows. Won't stop anyone from watching it, though. Millions and millions of people watch TV every night habitually, whether or not there's anything on.
Can't be any worse than UPN (Channel 9 in NY) news... Yikes! You mock a headline like that - on UPN/9 they actually have headlines like that!
And don't even suggest that I go lop off my feet or something like that; I'd still like to have a decent life back on Earth after the trip :-).
I wonder if the producers of this show know about the height restrictions...I'd hate to see someone become the winning contestant and then get told, "Oh, sorry, you won't fit into the capsule. Tough luck."
Eric
--
Be who you are...and be it in style!
they're going to launch them with two russians at the same time.
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A fat, balding astronaut releases ruffled potato chips on the transport...
The experimental ants get loose, prompting Peter Jennings to welcome our "New Ant Overlords..."
And the day is saved by... an inanimate carbon rod.
Should I be pleased or scared when real life imitates The Simpsons?
A little from column A and a little from column B?
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
If only we could send Regis Philbin...
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Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
Cutting edge reality programming would show a dozen people locked up in a room with only Web TVs and a Mr. Coffee. Each week there could be quizes about what's on the air and the web, and contestants are eliminated one by one. Throw in an XBill contest for good measure. At the end, the winner wins a frontal lobotomy so they can enjoy life just sitting in a rocking chair watching dust collect.
"Research is like sex: sometimes something useful is produced, but that's not why we do it." -- Richard Feynman
It is a much better use of my time than Television.
Television is a one-way medium.They produce, we consume./. is a two-way medium.They produce, we respond.Any conversation, no matter how inane, is a far superior way to spend ones time than as a receptor for mass-media ideals.
Don't waste your life being a passive receiver of ideology.Think for yourself!Converse with other humans.Even if it is about something banal and "worthless" (such as this thread) at least you will be interacting with another member of your species.Television is a one-way ticket to mindless passivity.
Pope Felix the Scurrilous.
Pope Felix the Scurrilous.
Computer Geek by day, religious Icon by night.
I'd like to know just what sort of criteria the producers will have for contestants. Will it be completely physical?
Pope Felix the Scurrilous.
Pope Felix the Scurrilous.
Computer Geek by day, religious Icon by night.
The training for the trip will probably not be the most exciting thing. They will most likely make it look more exciting than it is. They won't air the jogging and swimming parts of the training. The whole show will involve those things that bounce around like the amusement park rides.
Another exciting point will focus on the use of the space toilets.
It sounds really not fun to watch, but people will watch it.
the difference being if this car breaks down, you're dead.
FOX: "DOH!"
Sig it.
Didn't they have TV like this in science-fiction stories starting a long time ago, and even recently being filmed? (e.g. EdTV, The Truman Show) Can't TV people even make up their own crappy ideas anymore? Do they have to steal from literature (like The Running Man and Killerbowl (or whatever the heck that Gary Wolf book was called))?
chuk
Not unless the door falls off.
Think of it more like driving the car in the desert. If it breaks, you're stuck there without any supplies. However, in the car, you have to walk to civilization. In Mir, you have a Soyuz module attached whose sole purpose it to get you back down to Earth if something goes wrong.
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
they should have shot richard into space
the nude bum
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
What is it with this new fad? The Real World was interesting, at least the first two seasons. After that, everyone became used to it, and the novelty wore off, no matter how many extreme stereotypes they put into one room. Big Brother was the exact same. You stick extreme people from every side of the track into a house, and watch them.
What's this supposed to prove, that your family isn't the only dysfunctional household on the street?
Survivor was interesting. It was a novel approach, where people weren't tested on their ability to handle Suzie talking for 6 hours straight on the phone. They were tested for physical and mental endurance, and the cash prizes didn't hurt.
And now, Destination Mir, along the same lines of Survivor. I pray that this will be the LAST of this new fad. This show will only have two good episodes, guaranteed: the first, to get to know who all is there, and the last, to know who wins. The rest is just filler. And the fact that the space staff votes contestants off takes out the human factor of friendships/enemies.
IMO, it'll be hardly interesting. If you want to see what goes on when various people are put through training to get into physical shape, then join the Army. I really can't see a difference.
Let's think about this.
Mir has been up there a VERY long time. NASA has been insisting that the station has outlived it's operating lifetime. It has a decaying orbit. Why in the world would ANYBODY in there right mind want to risk a trip up there? Would you really want to compete for the chance when winning isn't about who is the most suited, but who is the best butt-kisser? No way, I want to go up, but not like that. my $.02
We now return you to your regularly scheduled moment of insanity...
It's not NASA that cna't convert, just Lockheed-Martin.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled moment of insanity...
To follow up on my original post, while I have some heartburn about ***Russia***, I think ***Russians*** are a very cool and resourceful people and there are some really great individuals there. They have this love/hate relationship with strict authority, tho, and it saps them of initiative....My biggest shock about Russians was that they avoid looking you in the eye, and don't even seem to be aware they are doing it.
>Are you sure that's real?
So what if it *IS* true?
Fisher Space Pens sell for $7.99 per at the gift shop (last time I went to see a shuttle launch @ Kennedy Space Center... about two years ago).
I used to live in Florida. I lived there for more a decade. I know the habits of touisitis annoyingians quite well. I have no doubt in my mind at all that they've sold enough $7.99 Fisher Space pens to recoup a $2mil investment, and more.
It boggles the mind what a tourist will drop money on just to have an "official souvineer". SOMEBODY is *surely* making a healthy profit off those things; two-million dollar development cost or no...
"look maw!!! it's one of them thar ass-trough-nut pens!!! less get one for juinor sweetums nana pappy and the rest of the clan!!!"
And let's not even THINK of the mounds of Disney crap that the suckers^H^H^H^H^H^H^Htourists will blow money on.
john
Resistance is NOT futile!!!
Haiku:
I am not a drone.
Remove the collective if
Imagine all the people...
I think it'd be so much more entertaining if they had to take all the training in Russian, and had alarms on the station go off randomly. =P
(Actually, the idea reminds me of a lot of the Japanese game shows I've seen. "Alright, time for a game of no-hands bowling ball catch!" "WHAAAT?!")
This contest reminds me of the the Heinlein book
"Have spacesuit, will travel". The book does
have special twist however.
MirCorp is a joint venture between the Gold & Appel Transfer S.A. holding company and RSC Energia...
Why is it that I imagine the winner being given a ride to Atlantis in a golden submarine instead?
Yeah, I know it's been said before, but the reference still amuses me greatly.
...if we can find a transmitter that isn't charred beyond all recongition, just like our cosmonaut riding up on your missle...errr...rocket."
I'm going to go back in my box and will think within the limits of my box: MS Sucks Linux Good I read too much Slashdot.
It's not fair to lump the two categories together -- manrated boosters are a small subset of boosters, and they're much more reliable than the run-of-the-mill cargo launcher. Matter of fact, I can recall only one fatal manrated launcher failure: Challenger.
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Politics is about making compromises. Religion isn't. --Michael Horton
Some serious legal precedents could be set up by sending some normal citizen up who passed the test -- but is actually crazy. I'm sure NBC's ratings would skyrocket if the winner accidentally opened an airlock hatch... but at what cost?
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
"You went up in THAT thing - you're braver than I thought!"
Sean
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Contrary to what everyone else is saying, I think you're thinking of Clarke's Islands in the Sky
The kid's uncle was a lawyer and the space station was technically part of Earth, and the prize was a trip to anywhere on the planet.
Good book.
I wonder how NBC stole this out from under CBS's nose. Maybe CBS had too much Survivor with the new Australian Outback series and the rerunning of the original Survivor series? Or maybe CBS just didn't think the series would fly, despite their success with the original series. Remember, part of Survivor's success is due to its timing. It came in the summer when there is nothing but reruns and baseball. Audiences watched it first out of curiosity, and then just kept watching to see what happened next.
Maybe NBC made a mistake. Of course, the actual launch episode should draw big ratings.
"I live in a world of make-believe, with faeries and leprechauns and tiny little frogs with funny hats."
The Apollo spacecraft is very much distinct from the booster which launched it (matter of fact, there were several different boosters which launched Apollo capsules). The Soviet manned space program had a couple of fatal spacecraft failures, too... but those weren't launcher failures either.
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Politics is about making compromises. Religion isn't. --Michael Horton