Soon, you’ll be able to join billionaires and take part in the space race too. The catch is that you’ll be watching it from the comfort of your couch on TV
Netflix says its new documentaries, ‘Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space’ will bring space tourism directly to your screen.
But is hosting what is essentially a reality TV show in space a good idea?
This question comes as we increasingly are looking to answer questions about the accessibility and ethics of space tourism.
The crew aboard SpaceX’s Inspiration4 Mission to Space will include Chris Sembroski, Hayley Arcenfaux, Jared Isaacman and Dr Sian Proctor
Everything you need to know about Inspiration4 Mission to Space
The series will follow a civilian crew as they journey into space aboard a SpaceX aircraft.
It will come in five parts, with Netflix releasing the first episode on September 6. Two more episodes will be released on September 13, and the launch will be streamed as a “feature-length finale” to be released at the end of the month.
Netflix says: “From training to launch to landing, this all-access docuseries rides along with the Inspiration4 crew on the first all-civilian orbital space mission”.
The mission will raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and Netflix will also release an cartoon to explain the mission to children and their families.
However, despite attempts to essentially brand the mission as inclusive to ‘regular people’, it should be noted that billionaire Jared Isaacman will be piloting the aircraft.
This September, four civilians will launch into space for a three-day trip orbiting Earth.
Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission To Space — the first Netflix documentary series to cover an event in near real-time — will premiere in five parts leading up to and following the mission. pic.twitter.com/8fLnxHCQNN
First-time for Netflix covering a “near-real time” event
The series also comes as a first for Netflix. The streaming giant has hired a team of filmers to follow the astronauts as they prepare to go into space.
Julia Alexander from Parrot Analytics told Recode that Netflix has much to gain from the deal.
“Shooting something into space, that’s something that’s going to bring in subscribers globally”
Natasha is an Associate Producer at ticker NEWS with a Bachelor of arts from Monash University. She has previously worked at Sky News Australia and Monash University as an Online Content Producer.
There have been over 130,000 layoffs across the technology sector in the last five months
The technology sector was billed as the most exciting industry to work in.
Big offices, big dreams, big money were all part of the parcel for many companies attracting staff.
As many organisations caught onto the momentum of the pandemic, the same energy has not been particularly met on the other side.
Thousands of workers have since been laid off as the good times stopped rolling.
In fact, the technology sector’s layoffs are the highest since the dotcom bubble burst 22 years ago.
The BT Group is one of the latest companies cutting staff.
Fifty-five thousand have lost their jobs as part of a corporate restructure.
CEO Philip Jansen will freeze his £1.1 million salary until he retires, according to reports from Sky News.
The ground is also shifting as artificial intelligence takes hold and the economy worsens.
BT Group said it is laying off 11,000 staff because of the increased capacity for artificial intelligence in the workplace.
At the same time, companies like Apple and Goldman Sachs are among those restricting or banning the use of tools like ChatGPT amid privacy or data concerns.