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American Morning

Pop Star and Russian Space Program Fall Out of Sync

Aired September 03, 2002 - 09:54   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Do not call N'Sync singer Lance Bass a space cadet, or as Paula referred to him, a "Bass-tronaut." The pop star and the Russian space program have fallen out of sync apparently. It looks like Bass doesn't have the cash. And no ticky, no ridey, you know what I'm saying? Apparently, he has not raised the $20 million needed for that ride into space.
Our space correspondent Miles O'Brien is at the CNN Center with the very latest on this outrage, this controversy, this unsolved mystery. Good morning.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: You might call it all kind of fishy.

CAFFERTY: You could.

O'BRIEN: As a matter of fact I just got off the phone with some folks in Moscow, some of Jeff Lance's company, Jeff Mamber (ph), who's the president of a company called Mir Corps, who has been trying to broker the whole thing. And just before his cell phone battery died as he was walking the streets of Moscow, he said it is not over, it is not over, and Lance doesn't think it is over yet. And that was it.

Let me show you a little bit about Lance Bass. Last week, he was in Houston, Texas, training with the big boys there. By all accounts he acquitted himself very well. The trainers liked him. The public affairs people liked him. NASA thought he was kind of cool. He set a NASA record, jack. He said in his news conference the word amazing 41 times. That is a NASA record.

CAFFERTY: That's incredible.

O'BRIEN: He wouldn't talk one on one to reporters. We're not sure why. You can fill in the blanks on that. He was asked in his news conference what would happen if he didn't get to go?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANCE BASS, N'SYNC: After I stopped crying -- no, no. Definitely I have put in a lot of hours for this. I have dedicated my whole year to this project. There is no doubt in my mind that I'm going.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Well, well, well, there are some doubts this morning. To be honest with you guys, this project has been dead for a long time. No one has been willing to admit, mostly because the Russians needs those dead presidents so badly, they have been willing to extend deadline after deadline after deadline in the hopes something would come through.

To date, Lance Bass and his people have come through with about $200,000 just to pay for his initial training. The rest has just been licks an promises. The bottom line is, there is no dinero to support this advertiser-supported endeavor into space.

And $20 million, that's a big number, Jack. I tell you, I don't know if there are enough eye balls in the cable universe to support $20 million ride, even for MTV and even for all those the teenage girls.

CAFFERTY: And he's put down $200,000. That's 1 percent down, 99 percent on catch me if you can. Is that the deal?

O'BRIEN: You might say that's a leveraged deal.

CAFFERTY: Yes, that's not bad.

O'BRIEN: Yes, I mean, those Enron guys could do no better than that.

CAFFERTY: I wonder why he went through with all this training if he knew full he was going to come up short when he reached to his hip for the wallet.

O'BRIEN: Well, let me ask you this question, how many people out there know who Lance Bass is, who did not prior to this little training endeavor?

CAFFERTY: And are not oh all our lives enriched as a result would be the second part of that?

O'BRIEN: Exactly. Exactly. Well, he has certainly had a fun ride, so to speak, even if he doesn't get to go to space. The fact is, I don't know if he can write a check for $20 million. Perhaps he can write the check himself. So far these trips to space, that are paying trips, remain the province of very rich guy hose can write a check for $20 million. In the meantime, those advertising supported deals remain to be seen.

CAFFERTY: Old expression out in Reno, Nevada when I was a kid, never let your mouth write a check that your -- can't cover.

Good to see you, Miles. Talk to you soon.

O'BRIEN: Good to see you.

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