First All-Made-In-Space TV Commercial to Be Aired

December 17, 2001 8:25 am EST

TOKYO (Reuters) - The world's first completely made-in-space television commercial will be aired in Japan from next year, officials said on Monday.

The commercial, completed with the help of Russia, features a Russian astronaut picking up a floating bottle of a Japanese sports drink and gulping it down while looking at Earth from the International Space Station.

The ad for Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co's "Pocari Sweat" drink cost about 100 million yen ($786,000) to make and will air from January 1, said an official at Japan's Dentsu Inc, the world's fourth largest advertising agency.

The National Space Agency of Japan also chipped in 10 million yen for the project, the Dentsu official said.

The International Space Station program is a partnership between NASA in the United States, and space agencies in Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan. ($1-127.22 Yen)

[aren't you glad you know this?]

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2001