Joey Fatone’s Broadway debut in RENT receives coverage from The New York Times, linking the group’s hiatus to new artistic pursuits. Lance Bass was formally nominated for space travel by M.V. Sinelschikov of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, and MTV.com reported that a contract had been signed for his participation in the Soyuz mission. Alan Boyle continued chronicling Bass’s journey on the Cosmic Log, while MSNBC’s Science and Tech section published a separate article detailing his training. A short segment aired on Access Hollywood, and a fan-circulated transcript—linked by Popdirt.com—claimed Joey Fatone said *NSYNC would begin working on another album the following year. These fragments, scattered across outlets and fan forums, painted a picture of a group still tethered to future plans, even as their paths diverged.
July 2002
1) The New York Times published an article about Joey Fatone’s Broadway debut in the musical RENT. The author mentions that a gap in his schedule (i.e., the hiatus) gave him the opportunity to audition for the play.
Title: Joey Fatone of ‘NSYNC To Make His Broadway Debut
Author(s): Jesse McKinley
Original Source: The New York Times
Current link: https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/09/theater/joey-fatone-of-n-sync-to-make-his-broadway-debut-in-rent.html (full article)
2) Lance was formally nominated for space travel by M.V. Sinelschikov, Head of Space Flight Directorate of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. This graphic contains text from the a transcript of the nomination letter.
Title: None
Author(s) M.V. Sinelschikov
Original Source: Private correspondence (unavailable)
Secondary Source: Space.com
Current Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20020802163343/http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/bass_letter_020717.html (full transcript)
3) MTV.Com reported that a contract had been signed for Lance to officially become part of the Soyuz mission.
Title: Bass Inks Space Deal As Russia’s Partners Voice Concerns
Author(s): Jennifer Vineyard
Original Source: MTV.Com
Current Link: http://www.mtv.com/news/1456222/bass-inks-space-deal-as-russias-partners-voice-concerns/ (full article)
4) Alan Boyle posted more updates about Lance’s tourism plans on the Cosmic Log.
Title: Cosmic Log
Author(s): Alan Boyle
Original Source: MSNBC.com (blog no longer available)
Secondary Source: Cosmiclog.com
Current Link: https://cosmiclog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/coslog-archive1.docx (Full post is available in document)
5) An article about Lance’s preparation for the Soyuz mission was published in the Science and Tech section of MSNBC.com. Though authored by Alan Boyle this appears to be separate from his Cosmic Log blog.
Title: Russians Provide Data On Space Star: Space station partners review plan for ’N Sync singer’s flight
Author(s): Alan Boyle
Original Source: MSNBC.com
Current Link: http://web.archive.org/web/20020804104721/http://www.msnbc.com/news/765523.asp?cp1=1 (full article)
6) Access Hollywood broadcast a short segment about preparations for Lance’s space flight. This graphic contains text from a transcript that was posted in a fan thread on Abstracts.net. The transcript does not identify the speakers by name; however, Popdirt.com linked to the Abstracts thread claiming that Joey Fatone said *NSYNC would begin working on another album the following year.
Title: None
Transcriber(s):”admin” (name unknown)
Original Source: Access Hollywood broadcast (unavailable)
Secondary Source: Abstracts.net Justin Timberlake subforum
Current Link: http://www.abstracts.net/mb/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=14192 (full transcript)
Title: *Nsync Measure for Wax Figures
Author(s): Unknown
Original Source: Access Hollywood broadcast (unavailable)
Secondary source: Abstracts.net thread
Tertiary source: PopDirt.com (quote attributed to Joey Fatone)
Current Link: http://popdirt.com/nsync-measure-for-wax-figures/6391/ (full post)
7) MTV.com published an article about what was known of Justin’s solo album up to that point in time.
Title: Justin Timberlake Working ‘NSecret on Star-Packed Solo LP
Author(s): Corey Moss
Original Source: MTV.com
Current Link: http://www.mtv.com/news/1456207/justin-timberlake-working-nsecret-on-star-packed-solo-lp/ (full article)
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