October 28, 2024

— A banker, an athlete and an astronaut walk onto a stage... No, that is not the setup for a joke, but rather the premise behind a new television commercial starring a veteran NASA space traveler.

Fans watching the opening games of the World Series may have caught the Capital One spot, which features retired New York Yankees' shortstop Derek Jeter and, though never named, Karen Nyberg.

The 50th woman to fly into space, Nyberg plays/is the astronaut, who with "Mr. Jeter" and an unnamed Capital One employee are the guests for a school's Career Day assembly. The conceit of the commercial is that the students and parents in the audience are more interested in hearing from the "bank guy" than the baseball star or space station crew member.

"Aren't you in the Hall of Fame?" says Nyberg, delivering her only line in the ad while leaning in to speak to Jeter.

"And didn't you live in space?" replies Jeter, who was inducted into Cooperstown in 2020.

"What's in your wallet?" says the Capital One rep, delivering the slogan as the 30-second commercial ends.

Capital One Bank: Career Day. Click to enlarge video in new pop-up window. (Capital One)

Answering the ad

In the commercial, one of the parents asks, "What has been the highlight of your career?" Jeter begins to answer, but the dad interjects, wanting to hear from the Capital One banker instead.

Nyberg, in real life, used social media to share what would have been her answer.

"Living in space was definitely the highlight of 'my' career!" she wrote.

The post (and ad) drew a laugh (emoji) from European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, Nyberg's crewmate for 166 days aboard the International Space Station in 2013.

For those less familiar with Nyberg, other than Jeter's question, the only way viewers are clued in that she is an astronaut is from her outfit: white coveralls adorned with a couple of umbilical ports and (fictional) mission patches, a life support-like backpack and a helmet, which in the ad she holds under her arm.

The suit is not NASA issue. Wearing the space agency's trademark blue flight suit could imply endorsement, which is against NASA's rules.

Rather, the costume was provided by WonderWorks, a design and production company that specializes in space props, from astronaut suits to space shuttle and space station sets. The garment that Nyberg wore is the "LEO," WonderWorks' Low Earth Orbit suit.

The same get up, configured slightly differently, has been used for a sketch on Saturday Night Live, a segment on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and a commercial for E*Trade from Morgan Stanley, among other appearances.

Commercial cameos

Nyberg is the latest retired NASA astronaut to appear in a television commercial.

Nyberg's husband, Doug Hurley, filmed an ad for Busch Light that aired last year. The former shuttle pilot and SpaceX Dragon commander made a tongue-in-cheek "Case Against Space" while helping promote the beer's tree-planting campaign.

Nicole Stott, who also liked Nyberg's Instagram post, appeared in a 2020 Super Bowl spot for Olay. The skin care company featured Stott alongside journalist Katie Couric, actress Taraji P. Henson and comedian Busy Philipps to raise funds for Girls Who Code, a non-profit that engages young women in computer science.

Other cosmic commercial cameos have included Jose Hernandez for Modelo, Scott and Mark Kelly for Amazon and Brian Binnie for Miller Lite. Most recently, the four members of the Polaris Dawn crew filmed an advertisement for Doritos while they were in space.

The Capital One spot was not the first commercial appearance by Nyberg. She was previously featured in a 2021 campaign for the electric car brand Polestar.