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John Hollenhorst ReportingA Utah man entered an online contest a few months ago, and now he's the winner of a seemingly unbelievable free trip. He'll take a relatively short plane ride to Moscow, and then he'll take a trip into space. Well, sort of.
Admit it, if you're a red-blooded American male you probably dreamed of blasting off, and Russian kids probably dream of going full-tilt boogie in a Russian MIG. That brings us to office worker Billy Brown of Orem.
Billy Brown, Orem: "Like most boys, I do like jets and things like that."
So he entered an online contest, which involved putting online game links on his personal website. First prize is a so-called "trip into space" on a Russian MIG, offered by a gaming company called Game Trust.
Bill Brown: "I was really skeptical about it. I'm sure we all are about those types of contests."
Unbelievably, he was randomly selected as winner of a trip that will approximate the experience Mike Sameisch of Salt Lake City had in 1995. At an air base near Moscow, he had a wild ride in a Russian MIG. Sameisch paid 12-thousand bucks for his flight. The Russian military sells the rides to supplement their budget.
Billy Brown gets the 25-thousand dollar into-space-special for free.
Billy Brown: "It's great. It's an exciting thing. I can't believe I won."
But will his MIG actually go into space? It will go fifteen miles high, no small potatoes, but well short of the 62 miles usually defined as the edge of space. If you take a quarter and turn it on edge, well, that's 15 miles, if you use the same scale as this model of the earth. Brown says his trip will be high enough for a great view.
Billy Brown: "Well, I'm sure it will be an unforgettable experience, something I'll be able to share with my grandchildren."
Like Mike Sameisch, he'll have bragging rights forever. Billy Browns's adventure will happen on the outskirts of Moscow sometime in the next few months. He's still trying to figure out how to work it into his schedule.
