Comic-Con: Warner Bros. SHOCKS Big Bang Fan With TRIP TO SPACE! [View all]

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http://perezhilton.com/2012-07-14-comic-con-2012-big-bang-theory-panel-warner-bros-gives-fan-mercedes-becerra-free-trip-to-space#.UAJgzXW0NIE

Comic-Con: Warner Bros. SHOCKS Big Bang Fan With TRIP TO SPACE!



Talk about swag!

Courtesy of Warner Bros, Mercedes Becerra got the surprise of her life when she was announced as the lucky winner of A FREE TRIP TO FREAKING SPACE!

The Paso Robles beauty attended Comic-Con's Big Bang Theory panel in Hall H. Friday, and now she's become a passenger of XCOR Aerospace's Lynx RLV! In-credible.

As you can see in the photo, Big Bang star Howard Wolowitz and NASA Astronaut Richard Searfoss congratulated Mercedes (above).

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From MSNBC:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48180811/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/big-bang-theory-tv-show-gives-away-ticket-space/

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Here's how it all went down: XCOR test pilot Rick Searfoss, a former NASA astronaut, appeared on stage to offer the suborbital ride to one of the show's actors, Simon Helberg, who declined the opportunity. Helberg's character on the show, Caltech engineer Howard Wolowitz, was launched into space in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in the last episode of the fifth and most recent season.

The TV series' co-creator and executive producer, Chuck Lorre, then suggested that the ride be given instead to the holder of the golden ticket.

"We are so proud and grateful to be part of this adventure," Lorre said later in a news release issued by XCOR and Warner Bros. Television. "The Big Bang Theory, boldly going where no sitcom has gone before!"

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TV Guide:

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Big-Bang-Theory-Fan-Space-1049982.aspx?rss=news&partnerid=spi&profileid=05

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The winner, 35-year-old stay-at-home mom Mercedes Becerra of Paso Robles, California, will get the chance to ride the Lynx, a piloted, two-person liquid rocket powered spacecraft developed by XCOR, a private aerospace technology company. Former NASA pilot Richard Searfoss, now XCOR's chief test pilot, was on hand to present the prize to Becerra, who won from a random drawing of attendees who had asked a question of the panel. (She had asked Kaley Cuoco about the difference between kissing costars Johnny Galecki and Kunal Nayyar on screen; Cuoco gave a diplomatically non-committal answer.) A recreational flight beyond the atmosphere is still not commonplace, but folks who have about $100,000 to shell out can take the adventure as well.

"This is my first time at Comic-Con and I really did it up," said a stunned-but-overjoyed Becerra, who was thrilled just to be meeting the cast. "I'm definitely taking a camera and I am probably going to take one of my daughter's toys so she can say it went up into space." She expects to make the trip sometime in 2013, after getting in the top physical shape that the flight requires.

"It's an amazing world that we are now living in where this is possible as a recreational activity," said Mayim Bialik, who plays Amy. "Watching that [promotional] video [for the Lynx] when they said how the sky goes black when you're up there, I got a nerd chill and I got all emotional."

Costar Melissa Rauch (Bernadette) got chills for an entirely different reason. "I'm very excited for Mercedes to have space ice cream," Rauch joked. "For some reason that's all I'm focusing on. That was the first thing I asked her. She looked at me like, 'I'm going to space, why are you asking me about dehydrated dairy products?'"