LIVE FROM THE SPACE STATION: LAP OF THE PLANET

The National Geographic Channel and Britain’s Channel 4 are planning a TV first — the first live 90-minute trip around the world from the viewpoint of the International Space Station. Titled Lap of the Planet, the broadcast, due to air in March, will include interviews with astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata as well as live high-definition views of Earth. British TV personality Dermot O’Leary, the host of The X Factor in the U.K., will anchor the program from NASA Mission Control in Houston. In an interview with Britain’s Guardian newspaper, O’Leary said, “Like most of my Star Wars/Trekkie generation, space has always held a fascination. It’s already been an education to research this project, and so I can’t wait to join the viewers in finding out both the spectacular (and what the astronauts would consider mundane, but most of us will find fascinating) workings of the ISS.”