If not Mars then perhaps into Orbit?

Yesterday I blogged about the MARS One folks offering one-way tickets for a trip to Mars, and yes I still think it is a hyped up Reality TV show that does not involve anybody actually leaving the planet. Well, I’ve tripped over a similar offer that looks  real.

axe-space-promotionAXE is offering a suborbital space flight for 22 contestants

AXE, … yes, a hair-products company, you might know them as LYNX, really has announced the AXE Apollo Space Academy (A.A.S.A) with astronaut Buzz Aldrin, I guess it will be a truly hair-raising experience so it perhaps an appropriate match.

To recruit for this once-in-a-lifetime journey, AXE is creating the AXEApollo Space Academy (A.A.S.A) with space futurist and one of the first men to walk on the moon, Buzz Aldrin. Beginning today, by joining A.A.S.A at AXEApollo.com, guys and girls will have a chance to compete for one of 22 tickets to travel to space on a flight with international space agency, Space Expedition Corporation (SXC).

There’s no bigger hero than an astronaut, so AXE wants to give fans a chance to experience an adventure unlike any other. In the biggest product launch in its 30-year history, AXEis asking guys and girls from 60 countries in 45 languages around the globe to sign up for the A.A.S.A by creating an astronaut profile on AXEApollo.com and telling the world why they deserve to go to space. Top-voted candidates will qualify for a challenge in their local country (excluding U.S.), with the ultimate candidates winning a place in the final stage at theAXE Global Space Camp in Orlando, Florida, where the final 22 space travelers will be selected based on competitive space-simulation challenges.

For those in the U.S. only, between the dates of Jan. 9-Feb. 3 – to celebrate the first-ever Super Bowl commercial from the Axe Brand – visitors to AXEApollo.com will have a special chance to enter for a chance to win* a bonus ticket to space, skipping the local challenges and space camp. After Feb. 3, U.S. fans will still have the opportunity to join A.A.S.A. and enroll for a chance to be randomly selected to go to space camp and space alongside their peers from around the globe.

“Space travel for everyone is the next frontier in the human experience,” said Buzz Aldrin

So how exactly are they going to fly? Apparently they have partnered with SXC to secure 22 seats aboard their suborbital spacecraft, aptly named, the Lynx. SXC, led by CEO Michiel Mol, operates XCOR Aerospace’s Lynx suborbital space plane, which takes passengers more than 100 kilometers into space, achieving astronaut status.

Of course the slight catch here is that SXC have yet to actually get off the ground, but they do appear to be well down the road to achieving this, and so are soaking up commercial sponsership (hence AXE), so this one (at the moment) feels real … but as I said, they still have to actually get off the ground.

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