Is there anything Richard Branson of Virgin won’t do?

He recently formed a company to build 5 rockets that are based off the design of Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipOne aircraft, that one the $10 million ‘x prize’. Each rocket will carry 7 people.

To promote the launch of Branson’s ‘beyond the atmosphere flights’, he is offering first availability (not free) to those that have accumulated 2 million or more frequent flyer miles – not sure if on Virgin or any carrier (often you can transfer miles). Only 30 people in the world thus far have accumulated this many miles.

First flights are scheduled for 2008 and will cost $200k. To date, the rocket program has cost virgin $250 million, but according to Branson some 40k have already signed up.

Picture courtesy of Physorg