Posted on 05/11/2006 8:29:38 PM PDT by KevinDavis
Astronauts are stomping around Mars without ever leaving Earth in Canada, where filming is underway for an ambitious new documentary and mini-series that blur the line between science fact and fiction.
Clad in spacesuits on sets awash in red dust, actors are portraying future astronauts in the television mini-series Race to Mars, a Discovery Channel docu-drama aimed at realistically depicting a manned mission to the red planet. The three-hour program, a six-part documentary Mars Rising, and a related Internet site Mars Interactive are set to debut in Fall 2007 on the Discovery Channel and its broadcast partners.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
My guess is that the real first Mars mission will be a corporate-sponsored endorsementfest. What CEO wouldn't love to hear his company's name mentioned just as the famous "first footprint" is made on the Red Planet? "And now, ladies and gentlemen (beep)... the First Step on Mars, brought to you by (beep) Kotex® pads, liners and tampons. Kotex® -- a division of Kimberly-Clark." (Extra points if the astronaut making the first footprint is a woman.)
For that matter, the Mars mission team will probably go the full NASCAR route to raise money for the mission. I can see it now: the giant Ares V booster painted with the festive white-on-red Dynamic Ribbon Device, the words "Enjoy Coca-Cola" shining on its hydrogen tank... the ship's computers displaying both the Macintosh Apple and "Intel Inside" logos (and perhaps the Linux penguin) during televised appearances by the astronauts... and of course brightly-colored spacesuits emblazoned with festively-colored sponsors' logos. "We now see Mission Commander Bryce Hollway coming down the ladder in his bright green Team Viagra® spacesuit."
I look forward to the day when I can flip on the tube and see the Gatorade Mars Mission Highlights of the Day or sleep well knowing that the Tucks Medicated Hemhhroid Pads Morning Mars Mission Report awaits me on the radio at six past the hour.
Sounds good to me. Tax payers don't have to pay it and the sponsers get what they want.
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