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Bass Moves Closer to Blastoff
On the heels of receiving a formal go-ahead from NASA for his mid-October mission on Wednesday, 'N Sync's Lance Bass held a jubilant press conference about his upcoming adventure. How jubilant? He used the word "amazing" a whopping 41 times.
He also used the word "butt," which has to be a first for an astronaut-in-training when talking to the press.
"We have been training our butts off," the 23-year-old popster told reporters.
Though he does promise to belt out a tune and possibly strum on his guitar, Bass said the reason for the mission (and subsequent butt-busting training) is not musical. He says it's to educate and inspire his teenybopper fans to pursue their own goals.
"The education that I'm going to be doing is more like physics studies on video, just being able to talk live with people down in their schools on the ham radio," he explained. "Just letting them know what it's like to experience, let them see what it's like to be in zero gravity, to know what it's like to train to become a cosmonaut-astronaut."
The pop star, who will be the third civilian in space, is certainly getting a firsthand glimpse at the rigors involved in space travel. He's logged several weeks of training at cosmonaut headquarters in Star City, Russia, and he is currently continuing those sessions at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Plus, he has two more months to whip himself into shape, both physically and mentally.
"I kind of came in late in the game, but have been doing 12-hour days, six days a week, so I've definitely been cramming it in as much as I can," Bass said. "But with the help of my crew--and they've been amazing--any questions I have, they're right there for me. I feel very educated at this point and still have two months to go."
Bass and his crew will blast off October 28 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and will spend eight days in space docked at the International Space Station.
Though it seems things have finally been worked out, the path to the stars has been fraught with difficulty for the teen idol. He announced his plans for space travel way back in February. Since then, money, safety and government-involvement issues have threatened to foil him at every turn.
Just last week, the Russian space agency hosting the flight threatened to pull the plug on Bass' space odyssey if he didn't cough up the $20 million fee. According to the Russians, Bass repeatedly blew his payment deadlines.
TV producers representing Bass have yet to reach a financial deal, but Bass said he is confident that things will work themselves out. Corporate sponsors are still being lined up for a seven-part TV series that would begin in September and lead up to launch day, according to the Associated Press.
Prior to the financial woes, Bass had to deal with pesky NASA engineers who expressed concerns over his lack of fluency in Russian and the potential disruption his presence would cause other astronauts working aboard the Space Station.
No worries, said Bass, who promises not "to be a nuisance up there." And about not speaking Russian, he told reporters that everything will be fine because "I know how to point."
Indeed, the singer seems unfazed by the problems and is looking forward to his trip. He may even be inspired to write a song about his adventure.
"No promises," he said. "But I'm pretty sure there will definitely be something in my head."
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