National Geographic Channel’s groundbreaking special Live From Space airs March 14, 2014 at 8pm ET/5pm PT, and audiences can be actively involved in the first-of-its-kind experience by joining in online on the Live From Space website. The live – yes, live! – television event will be taking place 250 miles above our planet and broadcast around the globe. Soledad O’Brien will be hosting the special which is airing live from the International Space Station (ISS) and NASA Mission Control in Houston.
Viewers can feel like they’re part of the show via a second screen experience on the interactive website (livefromspace.com) and some lucky viewers will have their video questions (previously submitted on Instagram) answered by astronauts during the live broadcast.
Details on Live From Space [Courtesy of National Geographic Channel]:
With unique access to and footage from the ISS and Mission Control, we’ll go into orbit with astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata from the ISS, while astronaut Mike Massimino (most notably known for fixing the Hubble Telescope) will keep us grounded with O’Brien live from Houston. Live From Space will air on NGC in 170 countries, and on Channel 4 in the U.K. It will simulcast on NGC’s Spanish-language network in the U.S., Nat Geo MUNDO.
The ISS orbits Earth every 90 minutes, meaning NGC will quite literally take viewers on a trip around the world. We’ll see incredible shots of the planet, from sunset and sunrise, to city lights and green aurora, to lightning storms and shooting stars.
For those fascinated by the recent emergency spacewalks to replace a vital cooling system, Live From Space will show even more intimately what it takes to run this floating world. From space, Mastracchio and Wakata will give viewers a fully guided tour, showing us how they live for months in microgravity. In their own words, learn how they sleep upside down, stay fit, maintain personal hygiene and, of course (that question everyone is always curious about), how they use the toilet. They’ll conduct never-before-broadcast experiments that demonstrate the real-world value of the science conducted on the floating laboratory. We’ll also show how science in space is benefiting people on Earth such as the ISS’s robotic systems, which are the inspiration for a neurosurgical robot that removes brain tumors. Astronauts, flight controllers and researchers will be featured in original segments from the ISS and Mission Control during the course of the two-hour live event.
