CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Your chance to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, courtesy of Pepsi-Cola Co., might come in 2004 -- according to a report Monday by AdAge.com. But don't pack your bags just yet.
The report from the online version of the respected Advertising Age trade magazine claims that a $35 million marketing program is being developed by Pepsi that might involve a reality TV show in which a winner would take the ride on a Soyuz rocket.
A Pepsi corporate spokesman did not immediately return a call from SPACE.com, and both Space Adventures and MirCorp -- the two principal companies that might be involved in helping to make a deal like this happen -- officially had nothing to say either.
With no signed contract between Pepsi and the Russian Space Agency, it's also too early to expect any comment from the Russians or from NASA, for that matter, who would eventually be informed about any prospective "space flight participant" candidate.
AdAge.com reported the promotion could begin in summer 2003 and run through 2004, apparently leading to the launch of the winner on the Fall taxi mission to the orbiting ISS.
At least one Soyuz spacecraft remains docked to the station at all times to serve as a lifeboat for the three Expedition crewmembers living there. For technical reasons the lifeboat must be replaced with a fresh spacecraft every six months, so a new Soyuz is launched in the spring and fall each year.
The taxi mission requires only two cosmonauts, leaving an open spot inside the three-seat cabin. Russian space officials, showing they are learning the lessons of free enterprise well, have been selling the third seat to space tourists for fares estimated to be as much as $20 million.
The first space tourist to fly was American businessman Dennis Tito in April 2001. South African Mark Shuttleworth followed in April 2002.
'N SYNC pop singer Lass Bass was to have made the trip this October, but his backers -- which reportedly included a "major soft drink company" -- could not come up with the $20 million fee in time to pay the Russian Space Agency according to the schedule detailed in their contract.
During an Aug. 29 press conference in Houston, Bass promised that if he wasn't on the October taxi mission he would strive to get a seat on a later flight. It's possible the AdAge.com story stems from rumors still swirling around that Pepsi remains involved in the effort to get Bass in space some day.
In fact, the company is no stranger to marketing in space.
In 1985 Pepsi flew a specially made can in space for the astronauts to test drinking pop in orbit. Coca-Cola flew their version of a can as well. Official results of the taste tests and cola wars in space were kept secret, but the rumor is Coke won. Then in 1996 a giant can of Pepsi was inflated and sent outside the Russian space station Mir to be photographed for a commercial.
Of course, it's still possible Pepsi is trying to put together an entertainment and spaceflight marketing package that would lead to a Pepsi consumer winning a trip to the space station. If it happened, however, that winner would have to come from a group of contestants with more going for them than for "those who think young."
In addition to paying the fare, a Soyuz guest cosmonaut must pass stringent physical tests, learn the basics of the Russian language, attend several months of training at a base near Moscow and be of good moral character such that they will pass muster with the international partners responsible for the space station program.
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