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Come on Up (to the ISS) You're the Next Contestant
Ender writes "The Voice of America and the NY times (Free registration, yetti, yatta ...) are running articles informing us that the Russian space Agency Rosaviakosmos has an agreement with Moscow to send a TV contest winner to the International Space Station. All contestants would train for space flight during the programs and this would show the audience how cosmonauts are trained prior to their space flight." Boy bands are ineligible.
.. cause actually, I want to send every reality TV show contestant into space.
Any chance of crossover shows with other reality shows? Personally, it makes more sense to me that the winner should get to stay on earth.
"Old man yells at systemd"
They could have Bob Barker the winner, and get him the hell outta here! He obviously isn't going to die, so this may be the only way to get rid of him!
You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
I'm sorry to tell you this story is a scam. This is what happens when you beat the Russians at Cribbage. They're just trying to repay their gambling debts.
I cannot believe the other countries involved in the ISS are tolerating the Russians sending up every Tom, Dick and Harry that can front $20M, indirectly or directly. What about the safety issues presented by an incompetent civilian in an environment where a screw-up could jeopardize the lives of all the people on board ?
The Russians are making a mockery of the other nations' investments, jeopardizing lives, and compromising the amount of scientific work that can get done. For the amount and value of work that can get done by a single (competent) astronaut on the station, and for the cost of launching a ship to the station, you'd think it'd almost be worth it for some other nation to just PAY the Russians $20M just so the Russians can taxi one of their own stronauts up to the ISS.