Not-so-deep space

Once again, reality moves beyond the realm of satire:

THE contestants believe that they are taking one giant leap as space tourists.

But their shuttle is a Hollywood prop and its inhabitants are set to become victims of one of the most elaborate hoaxes in the history of television, according to the makers of a new reality TV series....

Four will be chosen to board their shuttle and blast off for a five-day orbit of Earth, where they will perform scientific experiments and return as heroes. Except they will not. Their shuttle was last operated by Clint Eastwood in the film Space Cowboys and despite being built from a Nasa blueprint, it will remain earthbound. The launch sound has been created by a Hollywood specialist and the shuttle will tip and rock in simulation of space flight. A giant custom-built screen outside the shuttle will provide the illusion of a view of Earth from space, including a hurricane over Mexico and a glimpse of Britain.

They will not experience weightlessness because they are only orbiting "near space".

[from the Times of London]

I’d love to be able to wonder how hard it was for the producers of this atrocity-in-the-making to find contestants dumb enough not to question the gravity thing, or to ask why they were not subjected to multiple Gs on liftoff. But I suspect it was depressingly easy to find such ignoramuses. *sigh*