A 3-hour cruise?

Virgin Galactic Aims to Fly Passengers by 2008
Designer Philippe Starck, former soap star Victoria Principal and "Superman Returns'' director Bryan Singer have booked their flights for tourist trips in outer space, an official from the company selling the galactic voyage said Monday. (space.com)

Ummmm... maybe it's just the mention of washed-up actor Victoria Principal, but I'm thinking "outer-space version of Gilligan's Island" here. Oh wait, they already did that.... "Lost in Space." But still.

According to the article, crazy rich people are paying $200,000 for the privilege of going up in the air for an hour, entering suborbital space for 15 minutes (of which 5 minutes will be in freefall), and then coming back down. The weightlessness part sounds like it might be fun—except when you remember how uptight airlines have gotten about passengers wearing seatbelts at all times and not waiting in the aisle outside the bathrooms. And you can bet there won't be any beverage service in freefall. Or bathrooms, for that matter.