New Russion TV show will send winners to space station

MOSCOW -- Russia's biggest television station said Tuesday it was teaming up with the country's space agency to create a reality show that will be literally out of this world.

The show will follow contestants as they go through the rigorous training required for cosmonauts, and the winner will spend a week on the Russian segment of the International Space Station, said Channel 1.

The station said it planned to send the first winner to space in the fall of 2003.

A recent attempt to combine space travel and entertainment failed when pop star Lance Bass was excluded from the crew that is to fly to the space station this month.

Bass, of the group 'N Sync, was unable to come up with the $20 million fee, and Russian space officials said he would not be part of the crew despite weeks of training. A seven-part television documentary was planned around his flight.

The reality TV project will "demonstrate the space achievements of our country and give the winner a chance to go to space," Channel 1 director Konstantin Ernst said.

Space agency spokesman Sergei Gorbunov said the agency had signed a preliminary agreement for the show with Channel 1.