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INUVIK
When someone says to shoot for the stars, it isn't normally intended to be taken literally. But if Inuvik resident Arielle Lavoie has her way, she will be doing just that.

Inuvik resident Arielle Lavoie is hoping to win a seat on a spaceship through fragrance company Axe's contest. The competition offers residents in 60 countries a chance at one of 22 trips into space with Space Expedition Corporation. - Miranda Scotland/NNSL photo

"Growing up you always kind of have those little outrageous dreams, right?" said Lavoie, 19. "Mine just so happens to be space."

In January, Lavoie entered a contest by Axe for a chance to win one of 22 trips into space with tourism company SXC, or Space Expedition Corporation The contest is open to people in 60 countries.

To pass the first stage of the competition Lavoie will need to be one of the top two Canadians with the most votes. If she is, she will travel to Orlando, Fla., to take part in Axe's Global Space Camp where contestants will be put through three training missions. Then it will be in the judges' hands as they decide which Canadian contestant they think will handle the trip best.

Lavoie is well on her way to getting the votes she needs to be in the top two. As of Monday evening she was sitting in ninth place out of hundreds of other contestants.

Lavoie said she has campaigned for votes predominantly using a Facebook event she created called #Sendarielletospace. Initially, 300 people were invited to the page but thanks to her friends and family that number has since ballooned to about 5,000, according to Lavoie.

"It's amazing how much support I've been getting through this," she said. "It has been so rewarding on my part to see how everyone has kind of pulled together ... If I don't win it was well worth a shot."

Lavoie said her parents have been behind her the whole way, although her mom Bernice Lavoie is a little wary of the whole idea.

"As a mother of course, I don't want to send my daughter to space but I mean it's her dream and I don't want to hold her back," the elder Lavoie said, adding she hopes to see her daughter at least make it to the training camp. "It will broaden her experience, that's for sure. She is one who loves travelling. She's gone to a few places internationally so why not space?"

SXC is set to offer daily commercial flights into space beginning in 2014. Already the company has sold more than 200 flights at about $100,000 a pop.

The company's Lynk Mark II, in which the contestant winners are expected to travel, is said to seat two – a pilot and a passenger – and can launch riders more than 100 km into space.

Axe contestants will also take off from the Curacao International Airport in the southern Caribbean region.

Enrolment for the competition closes Aug. 31. Those wishing to vote for Lavoie can do so at the Axe Apollo Space Academy website.

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