Estee Lauder to pay NASA $17,500 an hour for pictures of its new night serum onboard International Space Station
Estée Lauder may call its famous night serum "revolutionary," but now with the help of NASA, there's more to that catchphrase than meets the eye.
The serum is set to orbit the Earth every 93 minutes when its sent into space to join the astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
The cosmetics giant will pay $17,500 per hour for the astronauts to take photos of their serum in space. Coincidentally -- or not -- the Space Station orbits the earth at 17,500 miles per hour.
The International Space Station is an orbiting laboratory for scientific research, but it's the photo ops and viral videos that capture the public's imagination.
Estée Lauder will get video and photos of their out-of-this-world product in the most photographed spot on the space station -- the Cupola. The photos are not to be used in print or television advertising, but instead on social media, according to NASA. The astronauts won't be using the product or be featured in the pictures.
NASA encourages commercial investment in the space station, which is how Estée Lauder can send its night serum up on a Northrop Grumman Antares rocket set to launch Sept. 29.
NASA says it plans to dedicate up to 5% of astronaut time to commerce or business activities. Ninety hours of crew time will be available annually and 175 kilograms will be permitted for commercial purposes.
It's not the first time companies have sent their products to the space station. The hotel brand Double Tree sent up its famed chocolate chip cookies and Pizza Hut delivered pizza back in 2001 on a cargo ship.
This new commercial agreement opens up opportunities to offset the costs of operating this international orbiting laboratory, which is about $4 billion a year.
