Richard Branson's company, Virgin Galactic, is now accepting reservations for a trip of a lifetime. All you need is a cool $200,000 and the ability to tolerate 4Gs.

The company reports more than 38,000 have already signed on, including William Shatner and Victoria Principal.

Virgin Galactic plans to ferry passengers aboard the VSS Enterprise, a multi-use rocket/glider designed by Burt Rutan, an aerospace engineer known for designs such as the record-breaking glider Voyager and SpaceShipOne. The Enterprise will be carried under a jet to an altitude of about 10 miles above sea level. Once the spaceship is released, you and your fellow passengers would ascend to a subspace altitude of over 60 miles. Passengers can expect to see the United Kingdom and North America in the same glance as well as observe the stars and solar system in undistorted clarity.

Virgin Galactic has already begun construction on a $200 million spaceport in New Mexico, thanks to New Mexicans enthusiasm and funding.

Others are trying to get into the game as well. Aussie Andie Thomas, a space shuttle veteran, is campaigning for a $110 million project to turn a South Australian rocket range into a spaceport for space tourism.

Space Adventures, a US-based company, intends to build spaceports in UAE and Singapore. Space Adventures is the only private company to send civilians into space - Dennis Tito in 2001, Mark Shuttleworth in 2002 and Greg Olsen in 2005.