It's NO SECRET I am NO FAN of REALITY TELEVISION (a group of people that are trying to be in the LIMELIGHT just because they want FAME) oh & for the money (well if needs be? but JUST to be famous?)

Well, THIS...SHOULD be DIFFERENT ?

This is NOT 'Big Brother' or heaven forbid 'LOVE ISLAND' , oh my has British TV hit rock bottom with those! cheaply made but so it would seem very popular! speaks volumes!

Many of you reading this I would guess (or I would like to think) have a different mind set so I would ask you to give this 6 part series starting tonight at 9pm on BBC a try? it's called "Astronauts : Do you have what it Takes?"

A GROUP of 12 (and I think they're going to be of a higher standard to those above & even those on THE APPRENTICE) that over these 6 weeks will be at the end down to 1 with the WINNER getting a TOP NOTCH REFERENCE so as to possibly become an ASTRONAUT?
Will we ever see this winner in SPACE as an official member of a SPACE MISSION ?
It shouldn't spoil things but I will say 'NO' not because they are not capable but because well you know ? but hey? who knows? I

It should be FUN & INTERESTING as Dr Kevin Fong tries to help them along with Chris Hadfield (NASA Astronaut) who sang that classic BOWIE Track in SPACE.

Let's hope the BEST PERSON Wins...I don't know WHY? but I am going to call the gender of the winner...I think it will be FEMALE.

We'll find out in 6 weeks time.

Please feel free to add to this thread as the competition progresses? as a bramble slowly rolls past this WESTERN GOST TOWN.

IF you miss it tonight it is repeated tomorrow at 11.15pm again on BBC2!!! yeah up against 2 REPEATS of Have I Got News on BBC1

THIS could be AWESOME.

Oh & to our AMERICAN Friends out there....ENJOY the ECLIPSE...Don't forget those IR & UV Camera's if you have them

Well that was GOOD wasn't it?

HELICOPTER TEST was AWESOME!!! and that wonderful GEEK did amazing! with my hands as they are now sadly I would have probably CRASHED it in 5 seconds

The BEEP TEST
In my youth I would like to think I might have won that one...again now, I would have ended up with that DOC sitting up against the wall.
Felt for this guy a bit.

NUMBERS TEST
Again, think I would have been good at this one, but these days are GONE, my memory is just not what it was

This series will MAKE you APPRECIATE these ASTRONAUTS even MORE....it is just a SHAME they are working for an Organisation that keeps SECRETS!

The BALLET DANCER is a Darling & I think the opening up session was HEARTBREAKING (damn i'm getting old)

LOVE the GEEK...might he win?
Or will the EXCELLENT Female RAF Pilot win over?

Sitting within those Mini DOMES was like something out of a Science Fiction Film.

Yup i'll take this over LOVE ISLAND any day.

PART 2 of 6 TONIGHT (Every Sunday night at 9pm on BBC2)
If you MISS IT check out the repeat tomorrow (MONDAY) same channel (BBC2) just a little later.

So what tests do they have in store for us this week?

And can the GEEK keep up in the PHYSICAL TESTS ? I hope so!
THE DAY of the GEEK seems to be HERE but will he have what it takes to at least still be here & in the running after any physical challenges? I HOPE SO.

But I think the LOGICAL choice (right now) would be the RAF PILOT...Cool, Calculated, Steady & Clever...She's my tip but the BEEB seem to be focusing on these two right now so might one or both of them be in for a BIG FALL somewhere down the line? (they do this kind of thing sometimes!)
I HOPE NOT they seem to be two good candidates.

This reminds me a little of a programme I used to watch with my parents & sister called "Now Get Out of That" (showing my age a little although I was a kid/teen at the time back in the 1980's)
Two Groups had to figure out puzzles...such as how to cross a river & not get wet with just rope & a few planks of wood

STUFF will HAPPEN out there & you need to have some degree of WE NEED TO DO THIS! and this seems to be what they are looking for here.

A bit like TOP GUN but for ASTRONAUTS

BEST ONE yet!

JACKIE your one gutsy lady! she faced her fears in the underwater tank! then came up trumps in the CAVE EXPLORATION task (one I would have thought was fairly straightforward?) and yet many LOST the rover!

The ONE thing you DON'T DO is lose the ROVER even if you can' find any of the rocks! clearly JAMES A had a plan (the OTHER James hmmm NOT)
Tim the geologist surprised me by finding NO ROCKS! what!!!

I really like Tim (the GEEK) he comes over like BRIAN COX (he even looks a bit like him) I even thought he came from my neck of the woods (sounded like it) I had him down as a Manchester lad or from LANCS but nope he's from YORKSHIRE (to be honest even I can't tell the difference in accents between the two) he will need to UP his game I think after this week.

KERRY is LOOKING STRONGER & STRONGER...my tip would seem to be the LOGICAL choice?
I would certainly take orders from her (and I don't often say such things! as I prefer giving them! ) she is IMPRESSIVE!

EPISODE 3 of 6

Don't read this if you haven't yet seen it but PLAN to...

Well NOW it's GETTING Serious & Really GOOD....Proper Astronaut stuff that they might experience NOW!

My sister, father & I are LOVING this wonderful programme.

1st UP More WATER TESTS...
The funny thing is we've probably ALL done this TEST or something close to it! treading water & doing lengths in wet clothes & even diving down for that BLACK BRICK (remember that folks?)
THEY ALL PASSED except for one BRAVE soul...I LOVED what KERRY did HERE (you could say she was a little bit CALCULATING? & perhaps trying to be a little too CLEVER? but I choose to believe that she'd have done what she did even had Chris & Co NOT been watching them with interest)

2nd up MORE WATER TESTS...
This time, one similar to the brick test except instead of retrieving it they had to (in teams) form a CUBE at the bottom of the POOL.
Again, I wouldn't have thought too difficult?
JACKIE again...WOW! one gutsy lady. Chris was right in his description of this FINE lady...DAMN!
Again I have to hand it to KERRY, honest lady saying they could not have done it without JACKIE! who is smart, brave & clever

3rd TEST ORAGMI PAPER FOLDING...
Yeah a strange one this I thought...with my hands now ARGHHH.

4th TEST...LANGUAGE
Learn a PAGE of Russian WORDS (would come in handy in a later test)(

5th TEST...CHAIR & PEG Test.
I would have liked to think I'd have done ok with this one but like JAMES I too have hearing loss (so probably not?)
Wouldn't you LOVE to have tried all these? to see how you pair up against the Best? having said that I think the answer these days would be NOT TOO WELL...I drop things regularly with my hands these days so those PEGS would be more tricky for me & as someone who was always competitive that would be frustrating.

6th TEST...YUP a LOT OF DIFFERENT TESTS this WEEK...but by FAR the BEST ONE..."The SOYUZ Simulation DOCK"
I loved how CHRIS used this moment to test them on the Russian they needed to have learned, even helping them out with instructions (if you understood him?)
KERRY was yet again AMAZING but HOW ABOUT Tim & JAMES who performed the BEST HERE...AWESOME!
Tessa the PILOT....WHAT? Oh Tess, I like CHRIS a LOT (LOVE the NAME too ) and he can see past failure (sometimes)

THESE are ALL AMAZING, FINE, QUALITY & CARING People...THESE are the TYPES of PEOPLE we NEED TO LOOK UP TO (NOT the likes of Sarah Harding)

I have NOT changed my mind as to the WINNER...KERRY for me is FAVOURITE (she has ALL the QUAILTIES to become a REAL ASTRONAUT( but TIM & especially JAMES also seem like EXCELLENT CANDIDATES.

Very Much enjoying this programme.
It does take me back to when I was a young kid/teenager seeing the BBC's 'Now Get Out of That' except this is WAY, WAY, WAY BETTER with FAR more INTELLIGENT PEOPLE here.

And if your WONDERING what I am talking about? I actually found an old series of the above old 1980's BBC programme.
This is the 1st PART but the other 4 (FIVE in ALL which I think makes a COMPLETE SERIES? haven't watched them yet) are also here at the side or will automatically follow on...Always interesting to see how people cope in such situations (who are the thinkers? the shouters? the cocky one's? the one's that think they know what they're doing but don't? the one's staying quiet?)
It's very DATED but it's similar.



Can't wait for EPISODE 4....and JAMES BOND 'MOONRAKER' Test TIME
I wonder if any of them will have the DART GUN to STOP the THING if they START to BLANK OUT?

WELL if you missed it LAST NIGHT (Sunday) DON'T WORRY it's ON AGAIN Tonight on BBC2 at 11.15pm.
I have seen it, it is BRILLIANT & very INTERESTING.

The reason you may have missed it? for some reason they aired it in the DRAGON'S DEN slot of 8pm & put DEN at 9pm!!!
LOVE the BEEB but COME ON!!!
What's MORE just as it is getting even MORE interesting (this is episode 4 of 6 so we are getting very close now to knowing who will WIN this thing) the BBC have for some strange reason shelved it for a week & will be showing....wait for it LIVE DARTS next week (what's really SAD & hey I kinda like Darts too every now & again is that they'll probably getting BETTER VIEWING FIGURES for the damn darts as they do this! ARGHHH)

So if you missed it last night TUNE IN TONIGHT...it's not to be missed!

I watched & it's ? well just watch & i'll be back with my thoughts TOMORROW....Damn in my youth I would have LOVED to have TRIED for this! Like these guys & gals I too DREAMED of SPACE EXPLORATION & YES I even thought I would ONE DAY venture into OUTER SPACE & meet ALIEN SPECIES OUT THERE now that only looks likely if they PICK ME UP ONE NIGHT for a VISIT (and I am NOT AGAINST the IDEA so long as they are FRIENDLY? if not i'll BRING the DAMN SHIP DOWN WITH ME only joking KINDA )