Space Virgins

Entrepreneur businessman and air travel fanatic, Richard Branson's latest futuristic project, Virgin Galactic, is already attracting a lot of attention from the rich and wealthy across the globe.

More than 150 wannabe astronauts have reportedly signed up for a brief sub-orbital flight in the SpaceShip Two craft, the successor to the ship which won the 2004 Ansari X-Prize for commercial space flight.

According to the Register, celebrities already signed up to go into space include actress Sigourney Weaver and star of the 80s TV drama Dallas, Victoria Principal.

Sci-fi hero William Shatner is also reported to be considering paying the £114,000 for a real-life flight into space.

There are apparently still some concerns about the effects that the space flight, which includes five minutes of weightlessness, will have on the bodies of the civilians however.

Virgin Galactic plans to begin launches into space in 2008 from its world headquarters and mission control in New Mexico

Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic stated: "New Mexico has worked hard to bring us to their exciting new spaceport facility and has several factors that make it an ideal operations base: climate, free airspace, low population density, high altitude, and stunning scenery.

"We look forward to working together to make the "Final Frontier" a reality for tens of thousands of pioneering space tourists."

Posted by Just the Flight, 27 March 2006 16:44

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