The premise was thus ... Channel 4 advertised for contestants for a new reality TV show. Though a series of (funny) psychological tests (which we got to see) they picked a dozen people who showed that a) they were highly 'suggestible' and b) they could take a joke. Unbeknownst to them, three of the dozen were actors. These twelve were then told that they would be sent to Russia to train as Britain's first 'Space Tourists'. Stunned, they boarded a plane which flew out over the North Sea, circled around for a few hours then dropped them off in 'Russia'. A helicopter met them on the runway and transported them to a disused army base which they were told was a Russian military base. Actually they were just outside Ipswich.
The group spent the following three weeks in a Big-Brother style house on the base training to be cosmonauts. They attended lectures on space travel and astrophysics taught by a mixture of actors and real experts, and worked out daily with a real Russian ex-KGB bear-man.Why didn't they figure out that they were in Suffolk? Well, there were Russian guards, tanks, and big dogs everywhere to convince them they were in a real Russian military base. Lots of effort had gone in on the details too: for example, every plug socket had been changed to a Russian model, they ate Russian food served by Russians and were given Russian toothpaste and tampons. There was even Russian litter scattered artfully around the base. Every time a little doubt popped into someone's head, the actors amongst them steered them delicately away from reality.
After sitting exams, four of the cadets (including one of the actors) were chosen for a journey into space. For this mission they, the actor-cadet and two actor-pilots boarded a simulator - the same authentic space shuttle cabin that was used in the film 'Armageddon'. The cabin was mounted on pistons to shake it around, was surrounded by speakers blasting out rocket noise and faced a huge IMAX cinema screen showing the gently rotating earth. These weren't your typical reality TV contestants; these were lovely people who really wanted to be astronauts and after lift-off these three people really believed they were in space. Really.
While they were 'training' in Russia I watched because it was so funny; half of the lectures were purposefully fake and their confused diary-room musings were side-splitting. Once the few were chosen I watched because I was in awe at the challenge of convincing three very definitely earthbound folk that they were taking off in a rocket, and I was terrified of the let-down if they failed to be convinced. Once they were in orbit I watched because they wrote poetry about what it was like to look down at the planet from above, mused on the meaning of life and spoke on how the experience would change them. And I watched the final episode because I really cared how these people would cope with coming back to earth with such a bump. As it turned out they played them a little video of all their doubts and fears, then just as they grasped it was all fake they opened the airlock door to show them all their family and friends outside. It was stunning, moving, hilarious television.
I know you don't all share my enthusiasm here. But I got such pleasure from watching a program that was totally about people - not about space, or cars or food or sport or history, but about people and their hopes and wishes and how they cope, not with humiliation, but with privilege and honour. And awe. Yes it was all a joke, but they were so brave - they really believed they were blasting off into space with all the risks that entails. And they are now the only non-astronauts to have experienced space-travel - to totally be convinced they were in space. I will never have that, and so even though it's was all a con, I am a teeny bit jealous.
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