Content producers Banijay Asia (of Banijay Entertainment) recently announced their upcoming TV show which is a space reality program in collaboration with Space Exploration and Research Agency (SERA, based in the US). Interested people can already pre-register themselves for the program. The audience will later vote for their favorite citizens to be chosen for the space tour with Blue Origin's Shephard mission. The voting will begin once the show starts.

The reality show will capture the drama, disappointment, and joy involved as the shortlisted individuals participate in various challenges that test their mettle and readiness for space travel. The show will eventually see the selection of a final winner who will have the opportunity to become the only Indian citizen on Blue Origin's New Shephard for the space tour.

Founder and Group CEO of Banijay Asia & EndemolShine Deepak Dhar is excited that the space reality show is an opportunity for billions of Indians to sign up to be an astronaut. "This is an opportunity for an ordinary man to live the extraordinary dream. It is an experience of all of us stepping out of our comfort zones. There will be a lot of drama, intrigue, and a lot of emotion."

Co-founder of SERA Joshua Skurla adds that the program offers individuals with no background in rocket science, and people who are not billionaires or fighter pilots an opportunity to become an astronaut and represent their nation. SERA co-founder Sam Hutchinson adds that their focus is on creating a media experience that gives "everybody a sense of the excitement that goes into a human spaceflight".

Asked if there will be any tasks involved, on the lines of reality shows that Banijay Asia (Into The Wild With Bear Grylls, Roadies) has backed over the years, Skurla says, "We do not want to reveal too many plot lines before the show, but we will showcase the potential astronauts to the voting public in a way that allows the public to make an informed decision for their vote. It isn't so much about the complexity of the challenges because this is a suborbital trip. It's about demonstrating, just presenting ideas related to the science and the space travel so that the larger audience can engage and then make an informed choice about who they're selecting to go to space."

"The challenges involved will all be related to what it takes to prepare for and execute on the human spaceflight. Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket is an incredible piece of technical wonder, and it allows pretty much anybody over the age of 18 to become an astronaut. The vehicle itself is fully automated and the flight is a relatively short one compared to an orbital flight to the space station. Therefore, the training is also reduced significantly, both in terms of longevity and complexity," says Hutchinson.

Group Chief Development Officer of Banijay Asia & EndemolShine India Mrinalini Jain agrees with both SERA founders. "We are trying to create a multimedia event, not just a TV show, so to minimize the show to tasks would be an injustice to it. It is also very early right now in time to talk about it. I wouldn't put this as a task-based sort of a show. SERA's founding line is that they are building a space agency for everyone. We will try to make a show which appeals to everyone and for which anybody can apply. We will attempt to mix the thrill of reality television with (the intrigue of) space exploration."

Hutchinson adds, "We've designed the whole program to make sure that we aren't putting our fingers on the scale in terms of that selection process. To answer your question, what are the kinds of things that you're going to be seeing on the show? They're the kinds of things that are going to allow the Indian public to make a choice about who represents them and who they want to go. So that's the sort of thrust of everything that we're trying to do - step back and allow anybody to apply and everybody to have a say in who that final astronaut will be."

Dhar expresses hopes that the show will become a franchise. "I believe we're on the right trajectory to land an experience that will become a tentpole franchise that will come back year on year."

Skurla says, "We have partnered with the Nigerian Space Agency and we're rolling out the program. We've also partnered with a space agency that comes from one of the small island nations. We will be announcing two other partner countries very soon. We've already been developing the project there and are awaiting the appropriate moment to share that with the public. And the sixth seat is open to anyone from anywhere."

While five nations will have secured seats on Blue Origin's New Shephard for the program, one seat will be open worldwide. "It is all decided by vote. The whole program is decided by vote. For example, Indians will vote on the Indian seat. We will have a group of finalists that come out of India that will then join a crew with other finalists from the other bucketed seats. And so there will be one Indian on each finalist crew, and ultimately one Indian on the winning crew that goes to space, and one representative from each of the other seats," says Skurla when asked about the eligibility for sixth seat.

Asked about a tentative timeline for the show, Dhar says, "The timeline has started (pre-registration has begun), but we're right now, along with Sam and Josh (leading the way on that front) fixing the final timeline for the eventual rocket launch. And with that in mind, we will back sync the production and the other logistic details, because it needs to be a very linear experience of the start of the journey and the final experience. But in all probability, this would be in the first half of next year."

Hutchinson insists no one has yet made anything similar in the space of entertainment. "No one's ever made anything like this around space exploration before. There are inherent challenges - you are dealing with rockets. They're sometimes bad-tempered beasts, they don't leave when you want them to leave. So, as Deepak said, this is all about syncing the production with Blue Origin's launch schedule in a way that allows us to create an experience that everybody will remember for the rest of their lives."

Skurla says, "If we were to put a little more color on the question that you started with, the previous initiatives to produce a show around space travel have largely been anchored on spaceflight opportunities that are significantly more expensive and more complex, using rockets that are going to the space station, which brings an enormous amount of complexity to it. And those initiatives face their own challenges in terms of figuring out how to make them work, both in terms of cost and complexity."

"Blue Origin suborbital vehicle is making these launches regularly. The training time is significantly reduced. The flight time is under 15 minutes. It creates this moment where individuals can, whether they're not fittest or not the smartest or whatever that might be, they can access this, they can experience this journey to space, they can still earn the dividend of what they call the overview effect of this transformative experience of having gone to space and coming back," Skurla adds.

SERA earlier backed Victor Hespanha's trip in collaboration with Blue Origin. Hespanha, a 28-year-old civil engineer, was selected from the SERA community and flew on Blue Origin's fifth crewed flight, in June 2022.

"We've done this once in 2022. We sent one of our members to space. And so we've built the entire program around the utilization of this rocket, because it is much more accessible. It was transformative for him. Now, he is a science communicator. He travels around to schools across Brazil and communicates about his experience. And we think that this is something that can really be paid forward to a number of other nations on this next mission and on multiple missions as we move forward in time. I think that's really the drive behind creating a space agency for everyone," Skurla adds.