Slashdot Mirror
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.
---
---
Politics is about making compromises. Religion isn't. --Michael Horton
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
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
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:
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
--
--
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)
Comment removed based on user account deletion
So much for the *international* space effort.
Am I getting through now? Thank you.
Bruce Perens.
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.
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.
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.
--
-- 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.
----
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.
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.
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) .
Do we really want people who would engage in the kind of back-biting that went on in "Survivor" going to space?
--
-- 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.
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
-Denor
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
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 ?
---
... about as well as "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire."
I've heard that a significant motivation is a threatened script writers' strike. Reality = no writers to worry about in execs' eyes.
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
I can't wait for the centrifuge episode! Bet that one will be a winner.
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!
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... ;>
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.
-
Does anyone else think the food network needs more Iron Chef and less Martha Stewart? I mean, Martha's scarey. You gotta wonder if she doesn't have psychotic episodes immediately after the show ends. No one can be THAT domestic!
In fact, I wouldn't mind an "All Iron Chef all the Time" network. Ok, maybe I don't get out enough...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Exactly, the most important information is missing in the Slashdot article and the link it references. Where is the sign-up sheet ? I always wanted to travel in space and since I can't afford even a tourist class ticket from Mircorp (over $15 million) this seems like a good opportunity.
;-)
I guess I have to go back to buying lotto tickets
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.
--
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)
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.
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
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.
>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.
I don't know...It's a matter what you prefer. There are plenty of good shows on TV IMHO, just gotta flip around. Think: Law&Order, Family Guy, Simpsons, The West Wing, X-files (up to a point). There are also some decent new comedies appearing this fall. I agree, there is a lot of "crap", but eventually those types of shows will lose interest and it will fade to black (hehe...Metallica(C)(R)corp(inc)(Republic))
Hehe...If you want reliable news, stay with Slashdot!
Sig it.
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.
---
---
Politics is about making compromises. Religion isn't. --Michael Horton
"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.
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.
---
---
Politics is about making compromises. Religion isn't. --Michael Horton