Despite the ticket cost of $200,000, no shuttle in existence, no guarantee that the shuttle will ever take off, and a tentative launch date in 2009, Virgin Galactic has 200 people waiting to take off with money deposited. 82,000 people have expressed an interest in the flight, but many are waiting until the shuttle is actually built.

This story talks about Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites and their attempts to build Space Ship Two, the planned sub orbital shuttle of Virgin Galactic.

It seems as though crazy tourism adventures may really have a future, and offer a possible hope for driving near earth space travel in the near future. It's amazing what rich people will spend their money on. I mean, I was excited about buying n electric baseboard heater yesterday (because I refuse to [sic, cannot] pay for heating oil anymore).