SpaceShipTwo on final approach to Mojave. Credit: Ken Brown
TV Guide is breathlessly reporting an exclusive this morning involving the creator of the Survivor TV show:
Mark Burnett hasn’t given up on his space dreams. According to multiple sources, Burnett is pitching a show to networks that would send the winner on one of Virgin Galactic’s first suborbital space flights.
Insiders say a bidding war among several networks is already underway for the project, which would give an ordinary citizen the chance to fly into space. The winner would take off on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo from Spaceport America in New Mexico — perhaps as soon as next year.
Billionaire Sir Richard Branson, who founded Virgin Galactic as part of his Virgin Group, has already said he plans to be on the first flight, with his family, on Dec. 25 this year. The Burnett show is then expected to pit contestants against each other for a chance at a seat on the second flight.
Branson and his family are scheduled to be on the first commercial flight, which would follow the completion of the flight test program in Mojave and licensing by the Federal Aviation Administration. Completing those steps in time for a Christmas Day flight is virtually impossible at this point.
When commercial flights will begin is uncertain, something that complicate the timing of any reality series. Virgin Galactic has been predicting sometime next year, but multiple sources have told Parabolic Arc that there are continued issues with SpaceShipTwo’s hybrid engine that could push the schedule back.