Moose Jaw science teacher creates ‘Saskatchanaut’ for space flight contest

By The Canadian Press

MOOSE JAW, Sask. – The dream of blasting off into space could actually come true for a science teacher in Moose Jaw, Sask., with some help from his friends.

It sounds like a lofty goal for 37-year-old Stephen Lys, but when a Facebook ad pointed him to an online contest for a trip to space he thought it was too good to pass up.

Now he is in the top 20 Canadian contestants in the Axe Apollo Space Academy contest after creating a Facebook persona called the Saskatchanaut.

He says it’s more important to him than just winning a contest for tickets to a rock concert — he sees it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

And he’s not there yet. First, Lys has to earn enough votes between now and August to make it as one of the top two contestants in all of Canada.

He says that’s why he created “the Saskatchanaut.”

“I thought people would get behind a character more than they’d get behind just some guy,” he said.

If Lys is one of the top two votegetters, he will progress to space camp in Orlando, Fla., and if he does well there, he might just end up being chosen to go into space.

The contest is being run by Axe, a company that produces men’s grooming products. The space flight will be managed by SXC, a space tourism company.

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