In 2005 , a group of youthful British ethnic music involve in a reality TV show energize themselves in a Russian space shuttle base before being blasted into space . Or so they thought .
Space Cadets , broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK , saw 12 people sign up to go into low - Earth orbit for five day . They had been carefully selected . Not like in a NASA form of way , whereastronautsare pick out for their suitableness for the military mission , but they were picked specifically due to their gullibility . The ground was that the group was not going to blank . They were n’t even pop off to Russia . They were heading to an old RAF base just alfresco of Ipswich , which had been filled with Russian products and cigarette to make it seem more realistic .
Rather than heading to Russia , the plane merely flew over the UK for four hours before touching down .
At the base , the crowd – include several actors acting as gram molecule – were put through training before four of them were choose to go through the last phase of the fraudulence .
“ We talked to a lot of psychologists about the correct sort of person to guarantee this experience . A set of people reckon , well , the only mass who would fall down for that would be idiots , " producer Ben Caudell told theGuardian . " And actually , that ’s not reliable . For this to work , you need what are known as susceptible people ; citizenry who are intelligent , have a originative mind , like practical jokes , and require to go along with people . "
Throughout the " missionary station " , the passengers all had their suspicions that something was n’t correct . After the simulate slip to space , they discussed how it did n’t feel like they had been fired into place by a rocket as they had n’t got the " tummy " smell they would unremarkably get from rollercoasters .
" This is a starship , " one contestantsaid , wrong . " It ’s not a caravan . Everything sense a bit caravan . "
But – bar one whosuspectedit was all fake – they never quite put their finger on what was take place , perhaps rationally believe that while it ’s unlikely that you ’d get to go to space without astronaut preparation or piles of cash , it ’s somehow even less potential that people will seek to trick you into believing you go to space . The crew were even shown TV footage of Earth from distance on displays , think it to be a windowpane .
The prank was revealed to the crowd while they were still on their space bird ( really just a simulator ) in quad / Ipswich .
The crew , now discover to just be the subject area of a trick , take on it fair well at the time , despite a routine of letdown and superfluity . Though they had n’t been to place , the cadet were offered a ride on thevomit cometto experience weightlessness . They were also given £ 5,000 , meaning they only need about £ 245,000 more if they ’d like to go forreal .
