Out-of-This-World, Space-Themed Blast for National Geographic Channel's Upfront

When National Geographic Channel wanted to present an extraordinary client event for their New York City Upfront, they again selected Empire Entertainment as their event producer. The direction from management was that this year's event would have to relate to NGC's programming and would also have to challenge guests with an authentic adventure and learning experience that they would not soon forget. Empire worked closely with NGC's marketing and events team, considered all of NGC's upcoming programming carefully, and ultimately chose a space / astronaut-themed event. The theme would provide a solid basis for the intelligent, experiential, and forward-looking event that would best promote the world's fastest-growing cable network to its most important customers. The event would feature real astronaut training exercises for the attendees as well as authentic exhibits, simulations and access to top, current astronauts and space scientists. But creating an authentic space / astronaut-themed event from scratch would be no easy matter, especially because NASA would not be able to support a commercial event. Empire and NGC would have to create a space program from scratch.

The event was held at Skylight NYC - a spacious, modern former gallery space in lower Manhattan that perfectly resembled what one would expect to be the interior of a NASA astronaut training facility. The décor featured a large entrance statement in the form of a yellow border lit from within through which guests entered the event. The registration area was bathed in red light and resembled a rocket gantry through which astronauts enter a shuttle or capsule. Guests then walked through a chain curtain and into rolling fog like a rocket ready to blast off and entered another world. Guests stepped into a tunnel made of black drape and fiber optic star drop that led into the main room of the event. Before them stood a giant 60' wall of star drop on which was mounted a giant, high definition projection screen looping NGC's high definition footage. Images of the blue earth below, taken from the International Space Station, passed by the giant portal-style window. A vignette featuring the a full size Apollo 13 space capsule (that was used in the motion picture Apollo 13), along with a full scale model of a lunar rover and a current EVA (extra-vehicular activity) space suit, were lit in blue light. Before this, a series of white ottomans were placed for seating with a pillar at the center of each, topped with a Lucite dome containing hydroponic arrangements of beautiful specimen orchids. Guests were served specialty ‘Galaxy' cocktails from two large bars - one a ‘Mars Bar' lit in red and another a ‘Moon bar' lit in blue. Abigail Kirsch provided space aged catering served on Lucite trays by waitstaff and bartenders all dressed in blue NASA flight jumpsuits.

Surrounding the bars were a series of astronaut training activities and guest speaker stations including: Do You Have What it Takes to Become an Astronaut?• This multi-station area featured staff in lab coats administering timed aptitude tests and challenges similar to the exams taken to become an astronaut. These interactive stations were themed to the NGC series "Crash Test Humans" and included:Orbitron • This was a stationary G-force space simulated activity. The user stepped into the innermost of three concentric rings that move and roll the participant along the tilt, roll and yaw access and are used to help train individuals for the disorientation of space flight. As soon as guests completed their time on the Orbitron, they were asked to participate in a timed manual dexterity exercise where they stacked blocks. Space Walk Simulator • This activity consisted of a large, ground supported truss structure and harness rig in which guests were suspended in space and asked to conduct a series of activities similar to those that an astronaut might have to perform onActivities were led by a variety of experts and real astronauts. Dr. Leroy Chiaho, commander of the International Space Station and several Space Shuttle Missions led the Space Shuttle landing simulation, talking guests throuh an authentic landing on headsets while Dr. Max Bernstein, Astrobiophysicist of NASA's SETI program (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) taught guests about how we search the stars for signs of life.