Space tourism is a refreshing alternative and even if for the moment the pioneers paid around $20 million for a trip to the International Space Station, future trips will get more affordable, so in a few decades, travel agencies around the world could advertise "space tours" and who knows, maybe even on the Moon.

That is what billionaire Richard Branson wants to offer, in just around 2 years, as his company, Virgin Galactic, stated that will launch the first space tours for private tourists late 2009 at the earliest.

Even if it will take at least two years until people are able to go in and out of this world vacation, public interest is still high, while VG officials thought the pace of paid reservations might slow down in 2007.

Branson recently told a trade show in California that construction of the Rutan-designed SpaceShipTwo will be ready within a year, followed by another year of flight tests. If all goes well, Virgin officials say the spaceship will be unveiled by early next year with the maiden commercial launch in 2009.

This has kept the general interest more alive than ever, especially since the official website promises amateur astronauts a spacious cabin to float around in and large portholes to look at the curvature of the Earth.

"In the last quarter, we have doubled the number of bookings taken on the same time last year," said Carolyn Wincer, head of Astronaut Sales for Virgin Galactic, contrary to what they had expected. "As word gets around that you can make a reservation now, people are keen to secure a place. Even better, uptake is in line with our 'best-case scenario' from our original business plan ... meaning that the price point and estimates of interest that we projected ourselves, and based on market research, are so far proving to be correct."

SpaceShipTwo will accommodate six passengers and will be called Virgin SpaceShip Enterprise.