Send a Fellow Citizen to Space! Public Vote Open for 20 Space Race Semi-Finalists

SEATTLE, Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- From 50,000 to 1,000 to 20, candidates for the Space Needle's Space Race 2012 are nearing the final competition. The program, announced in August, 2011, will send a person into space as part of the Space Needle's 50th anniversary celebration. One thousand entrants were randomly selected from the initial field of 50,000 applicants from around the country. Those 1,000 were invited to submit videos highlighting why they are the best candidate for this sub-orbital space flight with Space Adventures. Twenty of those videos now have been chosen and today they are posted on the Space Needle's Facebook page for public voting.

After voting ends on Sunday, March 18, five finalists will be identified and invited to come to Seattle for a series of elimination challenges in late April/early May to determine the winner of the ultimate prize of space travel.

The 20 semi-finalists, who range in age from 23 to 59, are a diverse group from coast to coast. With over half of the group from outside Washington state, the stories vary from every interest and background. There is the finalist from a remote Alaskan Village, a synchronized swimmer and a man being trained for the challenge by his young son. They all have stories that tell of their passion for space travel.

The winner will take his or her space ride with Space Adventures, Ltd at an as yet undetermined date in the near future.

About the Space Needle

The Space Needle is celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2012.  Built for the 1962 World's Fair, the Space Needle has become the number one attraction in the Pacific Northwest, with over one million visitors each year.  Along with SkyCity, the world's first revolving restaurant, the Space Needle is now recognized as the global icon for the City of Seattle.

About Space Adventures, Ltd.

Space Adventures, the company that organized the flights for the world's first private space explorers, is headquartered in Vienna, Va. with an office in Moscow. It offers a variety of programs such as the availability today for spaceflight missions to the International Space Station and around the moon, Zero-Gravity flights, cosmonaut training, spaceflight qualification programs and reservations on future suborbital spacecraft. The company's advisory board includes Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, Shuttle astronauts Sam Durrance, Tom Jones, Byron Lichtenberg, Norm Thagard, Kathy Thornton, Pierre Thuot, Charles Walker, and Skylab/Shuttle astronaut Owen Garriott. For more information, please visit www.spaceadventures.com.

SOURCE Space Needle