GLASGOW,Scotland — The private company planning to take wealthytourists to the edge of the atmosphere starting in late 2009 or early 2010 hasrefused a million-dollar proposal to film a sex video while the participantsare floating gravity free, the company's president said.
WillWhitehorn, president of VirginGalactic, said the offer, from an unidentified party, "was $1 million,up front, for a sex-in-space movie. That was money we had to refuse, I'mafraid."
Whitehorn disclosedthe rejected transaction here Sept. 30 during the International AstronauticalCongress. He said Virgin Galactic, part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, isplanning to begin flights of the WhiteKnightTwoaircraft in late 2009 or early 2010 from Sierra County, N.M.
Theaircraft will carrythe SpaceShipTwo craft, which is released during flight and then climbs to100 kilometers in altitude to offer fee-paying passengers around five minutesof weightlessness as the vehicle approaches the limits of the Earth'satmosphere.
VirginGalactic is charging about $200,000 per person for the two-hour flight. Thecompany has received $40 million in deposits from 280 customers, Whitehornsaid. Earlier this year, Whitehorn estimated that Virgin Galactic had spentsome $100 million developingits business, mainly in research and development of the aircraft by ScaledComposites LLC of Mojave, Calif.
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