posted 05-29-2014 07:34 AM               

In 1963, the U.S. government launched a covert space mission sending hundreds of men, women and children on a century-long voyage aboard the starship Ascension to populate a new world. Nearly 50 years into the journey, as they approach the point of no return, a mysterious murder of a young woman causes the ship's population to question the true nature of their mission.

Below is the ship as seen in a long-lead, conceptual teaser for the show. The series begins shooting this summer.

posted 07-31-2014 06:32 PM               

Dwayne Day attended the panel and described for The Space Review the changes to the design of the show's spaceship since production of the series has begun.

...the spaceship is based upon an Orion spacecraft concept that could actually exist. It was launched into orbit beneath a steady pulse of nuclear explosions, and the radioactive wake it has left behind makes communication with Earth impossible. He also said that they built some large sets in Montreal to depict the interior of their giant spaceship, which is as tall as the Empire State Building. A brief trailer showed the ship. This was not the same trailer that the network released earlier which depicted a Saturn V encased in a giant steel latticework floating through space. The new version looks more like the early 1960s Orion concepts, although it was not spinning to provide artificial gravity, and viewers will probably have to not look too hard for scientific accuracy or they'll get headaches.

posted 12-15-2014 10:02 PM               

In "Ascension," a three-part SyFy miniseries that launches tonight (Dec. 15), 600 people live aboard an Orion-class nuclear spacecraft on a mission to Proxima Centauri. The mission launched in 1963, when the Space Race was in full swing and the Cold War made the threat of global nuclear war an uncomfortable possibility. This leads to Project Ascension, led by a Werner von Braun-esque Abraham Enzmann, who dreamed up a spaceship taller than the Empire State Building that is propelled by nuclear bombs.

posted 12-18-2014 01:11 PM               

I was disappointed in the direction that the story took (though not for the plot twist at the end of the first night). I would have preferred they stay grounded in science a bit more, but looking past all of that, the set itself was a good reason to watch.

posted 03-10-2015 11:47 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
My understanding is that SyFy invested in the set because they plan more episodes to air in future seasons.

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"We were very happy with Ascension as an event series, but with so much high profile development in the works, we have decided not to pursue a full series," Syfy said in a statement to Deadline.

It is unclear whether the project's producers, Universal Cable Prods., Lionsgate TV and Jason Blum's Blumhouse Prods., will try to shop the potential series elsewhere.