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Space ventures want your videos

What better way to celebrate the glories of space exploration than to make a video about it? How about making a video about space exploration, and winning a trip for four to one of NASA's space centers? That's the top prize in the "Why Space Matters to the Future" video contest, sponsored by the centers in cooperation with the Coalition for Space Exploration.

Contest organizers are looking for videos up to two minutes in length that explain the values and benefits of space exploration, for this generation and future generations. The deadline for entries is April 7. The viewing public will get a chance to vote for their favorite, and a panel of judges will keep the people's choice in mind when they select the winner on April 17 — just after the global spaceflight celebration known as Yuri's Night.

The winning video will earn its maker a VIP trip for four to one of NASA's visitor centers: the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, Space Center Houston in Texas, or the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Alabama. Check the coalition's website or VisitNASA.com to check out the contest instructions, review the official rules and upload your video.

Another space-themed video contest is coming up on a deadline this week: The Golden Spike Company is asking its Indiegogo supporters to send in videos touting the potential benefits of lunar exploration. Golden Spike plans to offer expeditions to the moon with a price tag of $1.4 billion or so for two-person round trips. Its Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign is aimed at raising $240,000 for public outreach and engagement efforts — and the video contest is meant as a perk for the venture's contributors.

Video entries for the first round can be submitted via email to Angelica@tntcommgroup.com through Friday. Selected videos will be posted to Golden Spike's YouTube channel and put up for a public vote. Winning entries will be eligible for prizes such as lunar-lander models. TNT Creative Group's Tina Lange explains how it all works in the video below:

More about space ventures:

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.