Egyptian group against presidency of Mohammed Morsi wants to send him to space

An Egyptian opposition group is taking a unique approach to try to get rid of the sitting President Mohammed Morsi.

The Egyptian Independent news reported Thursday that the April 6 Youth Movement entered President Mohamed Morsi into an online contest to win a trip to space.

The movement said on its official Facebook page that it had entered the Islamist leader's name in the online contest because it wanted to be rid of him.

Under the so-called Popular Campaign to send Morsi to Outer Space, the opposition group said Morsi stands a chance to go to the moon, where he might find more tolerant people to rule.

The group urged people to vote for him by visiting the president's profile placed on the competition website.

"For sure, no one in the universe can put up with blatant lies, reneging on promises except for the brotherly people of the moon," the group wrote in its post.

"It is for this reason that the president needs your votes. President Morsi, we wish you safe travels," the group added.

The president has so far received more than 19,000 votes as of early Friday, putting him in first place.

The contest is being run by Axe, a brand of men's grooming products. Axe teamed up with Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon during NASA's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, to carry out this competition.

It promises to send 22 people to the edge of space and back aboard a private spaceship.

Contestants sign up and then get their friends to vote for them. Those with the most votes move to the next stage, where they compete in their own country for a chance to go into space.

The top recruits advance to a space camp in Orlando, Fla., where they are to take part in three training missions. A panel of space experts chooses the contestants they think are prepared to make the trip into space.

The winners then are to fly 64 miles into space with the space tourism company, Space Expedition Corp.

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