NBC show offers space flight prize

NBC has ordered a new reality show from Mark Burnett, offering contestants the chance to go into space on Sir Richard Branson’s proposed commercial space vehicle Virgin Galactic.

Burnett’s One Three Media will produce Space Race, an elimination show with access to Virgin Galactic’s home at the Spaceport in New Mexico, where competitors will be trained and tested and from where flights will depart.

Paul Telegdy, president of alternative and late-night programming at NBC Entertainment, described the show’s premise as “staggering.”

Burnett, whose credits include Survivor, The Voice and The Bible, added that the show had come about after 10 years of “relentlessly pursuing his dream of using a TV show to give an everyday person the chance to experience the black sky of space.”

Burnett has previously tried to launch similar space-related shows including Destination: Mir, which was cancelled after the Russian space station was scrapped.

One Three Media will be distributing Space Race at Mipcom in Cannes, going up against Sony Pictures Television’s rival format Milky Way Mission.