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For the Space Needle’s Birthday, a Trip to Space

The Space Needle in Seattle, seen through a translucent art installation at Olympic Sculpture Park, will be celebrating its 50th birthday next year. It was built for a World's Fair in 1962, with the image of a flying saucer in mind.Credit...Matthew Ryan Williams for The New York Times

SEATTLE — Already, a gender divide seems to be developing over the desirability of being launched into space, at least in the Bordian family, who were visiting the Space Needle here the other day, staring out at the cloudy cityscape and mulling the tower’s latest promotional contest — for a suborbital spaceflight, 62 miles above the earth.

The husband, Kelly Bordian, 43, a dentist, thinks “there is no cooler place to go.” The wife, Lisa Bordian, 44, prefers to stay closer to home. “I’ve just started traveling the earth,” she said. “I don’t know if I’m ready for space.”

The pattern was repeated among several other men and women who were interviewed atop Seattle’s most distinctive landmark, its sleek figure capped by what looks like a spaceship that just landed from Mars.

Even Ron Sevart, the president of the Space Needle, who dreamed up the promotion, acknowledged a gender divide. He would love to go into space himself, he said, “but my mother-in-law wouldn’t let me.”

The Space Needle turns 50 next year and is hoping to capitalize on, if not refurbish, its image as a symbol of the future.

The tower was built for the 1962 World’s Fair, at the dawn of the space age. The “Space Race” sweepstakes, coming just as NASA’s space shuttle program has ended, hopes to highlight the work of private companies that are picking up where NASA left off.

The Space Needle is partnering with Space Adventures, a private space tourism company that has arranged flights to the International Space Station for eight people who have paid for the multimillion-dollar adventure themselves; in this case, the Space Needle will cover all expenses, which officials put at $110,000.

Mr. Sevart and others announced the contest on Aug. 1. In the first 48 hours, about 14,000 people submitted their names, through spaceneedle.com or Facebook, officials said, and thousands more have been entering every day since. The contest closes Nov. 30.

Sending someone into space seems a rather audacious public relations stunt, one that could carry considerable risk to the winner, not to mention the Space Needle. Mr. Sevart said the winner would sign a liability waiver. He has experience in such things, having run three major Six Flags properties.

He said the Space Needle was looking for a particular type of person to carry its banner into the great beyond — one who could articulate how going into space would enhance the narrative arc of his or her life, and, of course, reflect well on the Space Needle.

“It’s not just about somebody who’s willing to take a risk,” Mr. Sevart said the other day as he strolled through the crowds of tourists at the top of the Space Needle. “It’s about having a discovery persona. You want it to go to a person who says this is a big deal to them; you want this to be something that is on the path of who they are.”

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Among visitors at the Space Needle, men were more likely than women to express interest in the offer of a spaceflight giveaway. Children of either sex generally voiced their enthusiasm for it.Credit...Matthew Ryan Williams for The New York Times

Once the contest is closed, a computer will randomly select 1,000 people, who are to submit a short video about why they should be picked. A panel of judges, who have not yet been determined, will cull them for their fitness and the power of their personal stories and narrow them down to 40 finalists.

The public will then have a chance to weigh in, “American Idol”- style, by voting for their favorite 20. The judges then choose the winner.

It is not clear when the winner would lift off, but probably within a couple of years and probably from Texas, said Mary Bacarella, a spokeswoman for the Space Needle. The whole trip will take about half an hour. After the rocket reaches an altitude of 62 miles above earth, the engine shuts off and those onboard will experience zero gravity for about six minutes.

Jeff Wright, chairman of the board of the Space Needle Corporation, whose family owns the icon, said he had challenged company officials to come up with something special to “one-up” its 45th anniversary, when they gave away a trip to the Eiffel Tower.

Thrilled with the results, Mr. Wright said he saw the trip to space as a chance to promote both Seattle and the Space Needle, which he calls “a family heirloom.” (His father was the original builder of the Space Needle and eventually acquired full ownership of it.)

If visitors to the Space Needle itself were any guide, men sounded more intrigued at the possibility of blasting off than women. Children of both genders were wild about the idea, though the age of eligibility is 18.

“The final frontier, where no man has been before?” Bill Skelton, 69, visiting from California, said after being asked if he wanted to go. It would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, he said, though he had some concern that the trip would be run privately, not by NASA. Still, he said, “if someone gave me the chance to get in a rocket, why not?”

His friend Linda West, 59, a banquet waitress also from California, had plenty of reasons why not.

“I didn’t even want to come up here — I’m scared of heights,” she said.

“I have no interest,” said Kimberly Brown, 23, a chef in Arkansas. “Too many things could go wrong. I mean, space is fascinating, but someone like me isn’t qualified to go.”

But her niece, Makenzie Marronie, 4, was champing at the bit. “Yes!” the little redhead shrieked. “You can see the stars,” she said. Just one thought troubled her. “I don’t know the way to outer space,” she said, frowning, before concluding, “I guess it’s straight up.”

Also contemplating the possibilities were Alan Moss, 60, an ophthalmologist, and Jane Moss, 63, his wife and office administrator, visiting from Worcester, Mass. They said that being in space might provide a useful perspective. For example, they said, by seeing how big the earth is, they might see that humans have ruined only a small part of it, not as much as they have feared.

“You could look down on the planet,” Mr. Moss said. “It would be an extraordinary experience.”

“And,” said Mrs. Moss, “you could see how insignificant we really are.”

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 10 of the New York edition with the headline: A Landmark’s Birthday Giveaway Draws on Its Inspiration. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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