Virgin Galactica taking bookings

And now they are taking bookings over at Virgin Galactica http://www.virgingalactic.com/htmlsite/book.htm

The year sofar:

Stephen Hawking to go into Space
"This year I'm planning a zero-gravity flight and to go into space in 2009," Stephen Hawking said in an interview earlier this week.
Hawking, 65, suffers from a neurological disorder called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Special arrangements would be necessary for both trips to become a reality.

The zero-gravity flight would be aboard a Boeing 727. Little is known about the arrangements, but assistants would take care of him during the flight.

For his trip to space, Hawking plans for a flight aboard Virgin Galactic's space plane. The head of Virgin Galactic is very determined to make it happen.

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william Shatner on the other hand turned out to be a sissy:


William Shatner has said no to a free trip to space. Billionaire Virgin CEO Richard Branson reportedly offered the 75 year old actor a free seat on the first of his space-bound Virgin Galactic ships. Tickets are projected to cost £114,000.
Captain Kirk apparently commented, "I'm interested in man's march into the unknown but to vomit in space is not my idea of a good time. Neither is a fiery crash with the vomit hovering over me. I do want to go up but I need guarantees I'll definitely come back." Not a ringing endorsement.

I say Shatner should give his seat to Lance Bass of 'N Sync. If you remember, Lance was the only civilian to complete full cosmonaut training with the Russian space program but failed to raise the 20 Million dollars for his ticket into the great yonder. That way, Shatner can play the nice guy while skirting the responsibility of playing Branson's guinea pig in his own private space race. And who can blame him? After all, Shatner doesn't want to see his life come crashing down to earth in a giant flaming ball - probably his biggest fear next to his career and ego suffering the same fate



The year sofar - In short:

January 9, Professor Stephen Hawking uses his birthday to announce his intention to become a space tourist aboard Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo in 2009. Like Toyohiro Akiyama, his trip is being sponsored, this time by Sir Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Galactic. ( Akiyama's flight to Mir was paid for by his employer, Tokyo Broadcast System).
March 21, SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket successfully reaches space but fails to achieve orbit.[Article]
March 26, Virgin Galactic agrees to pay $27.5m over 20 years to lease facilities at Spaceport America, located near Las Cruces, New Mexico.
April 3, Residents of Dona Ana County, New Mexico, vote to approve a 0.25% increase in sales tax to help fund Spaceport America.
April 7, Dr Charles Simonyi becomes the fifth space tourist to pay $20m for a trip to orbit.