TOKYO (AP) - The makers of
Japan's favorite instant ramen noodles will soon be airing a commercial that's
truly out of this world.
Starting next month, Nissin
Food Products Co. will film a promotional spot on the International Space
Station for Cup Noodle, featuring a sales pitch by a hungry Russian cosmonaut.
The commercial will air in
Japan in November as part of Nissin's ''Cup Noodle No Border'' campaign,
according to a statement Wednesday by Japan's space program, the Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA.
Space Films, a venture
business set up by JAXA that specializes in space images, will send a
high-definition camera to the space station aboard a Russian rocket launch
Oct. 1 and direct the filming from Russia's Mission Control Center outside
Moscow, JAXA said.
The project is part of
Japan's push to develop commercial spin-offs to its space program. JAXA did not
say how much the commercial would cost, but the agency will be leaving the
camera at the space station in the hope of shooting more advertisements.
This is not Osaka-based
Nissin's first encounter with the final frontier. In 2002, it announced plans
to make "Space Ram," a ramen noodle that homesick Japanese astronauts can eat
in zero gravity.
Nissin - which incidentally
also makes U.F.O. brand instant noodles - is credited with revolutionizing the
world's eating habits when chairman Momofuku Ando invented the instant noodle
in 1958.
The company is now the
world's biggest maker of the instant noodles, selling 20 billion packs a year.
Japan wolfed down 5.4 billion of those in 2003, or about 42 packs for every
man, woman and child.
JAXA expects high demand
for its remote-controlled space camera from companies looking for
extraterrestrial publicity and from educators and broadcasters looking for
unique pictures of outer space or shots of Earth.
Complete
Coverage: ISS Expedition 12
-- Hans Greimel, Associated Press
advertisement
