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Netflix is headed into space.
The streamer and the team behind The Last Dance are joining to document the first all-civilian mission to orbit the Earth. The five-part series, titled Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space, is slated to premiere in September and will air just before and after the scheduled mission.
Netflix will also air a StoryBots special for kids featuring the four crew members answering questions from children about space travel and their preparation for the flight.
Inspiration4 is the brainchild of Jared Isaacman, the CEO of payment processing company Shift4 Payments. The mission, which will raise money and awareness for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, is scheduled to launch in mid-September and will orbit the planet for three days in a SpaceX Dragon vehicle before returning to Earth. The mission is notably longer than recent high-profile flights led by Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos.
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Joining Isaacman on the mission will be Hayley Arceneaux, a pediatric cancer survivor and physician assistant at St. Jude; Dr. Sian Proctor, a geosciences professor and two-time NASA astronaut candidate; and Chris Sembroski, an Air Force veteran and aerospace engineer.
Netflix plans to air the first two episodes of Countdown on Sept. 6 and the third and fourth installments a week later. A StoryBots Space Adventure is set for Sept. 14, the day before the mission launches. A feature-length finale, featuring footage from the the journey, is slate for late September.
The Last Dance helmer Jason Hehir will direct and executive produce Countdown, which comes from Time Studios, Known and Words & Pictures. The other executive producers are Last Dance EPs and former ESPN executives Connor Schell and Libby Geist, along with Aaron Cohen for Words & Pictures; Ian Orefice, Alexa Conway and Rebecca Gitlitz for Time Studios; and Ross Martin, Brad Roth and Mark Feldstein for Known. Jonathan D. Woods (A Year in Space) and Jake Rogal (The Last Dance) are producers.
StoryBots writer Erik Weiner will pen A StoryBots Space Adventure, which is produced by Mindshow.
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