Nat Geo to broadcast special Live From Space

National Geographic Channel is preparing Live From Space, a two-hour special that will be broadcast live from the International Space Station (ISS) and NASA Mission Control in Houston.

The special will go out on Nat Geo channels around the world this March and be produced by UK indie Arrow Media.

As well as going out on 170 Nat Geo channels around the world the show will be simulcast on the US Hispanic FoxMundo channel. Both Nat Geo and FoxMundo are part of the Fox International Channels group. UK free-to-air broadcaster Channel 4 will also air the special.

The ISS orbits Earth every 90 minutes and Nat Geo said the show will take viewers on a trip around the world with “shots of the planet, from sunset and sunrise, to city lights and green aurora, to lightning storms and shooting stars”. There will also be a guided tour of the Space Station with astronauts showing viewers how they cope with everyday life in space as well as conducting real-time experiments underscoring the scientific mission of the ISS.

NGC said that viewers will be able to chat via video with astronauts and there will be a ‘social media telescope’ second-screen app allowing viewers to track the space station while exploring the interests of people under its path.

NGC president Howard Owens said: “We are honored to have secured such amazing access to the station and the astronauts living there, and are exhilarated by the tremendous challenge to show Earth … live.”

Arrow Media’s creative director, Tom Brisley added: “The technological and logistical challenges of broadcasting live from space may be enormous, but there’s no bigger buzz than creating mind-blowing content that works in micro gravity, on the world’s largest spacecraft.”

Nat Geo will put the special out to coincide with its updated take on Carl Sagan’s iconic space and science series Cosmos. The reboot, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, has been put together by Nat Geo and 21st Century Fox sibling and US broadcast network, Fox.