Virgin Galactic's budget $200,000 space trip ticket is not dirt-cheap, but compared to the estimated $20 million dollars Soyuz charges for its space tourists, it's a bargain. Space travel for non-astronauts is expected to become big business in the not-so-distant future.

Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites are working on a fleet of SpaceShipTwo spacecraft capable of taking passengers into sub-orbital space starting 2008. While not as high as NASA and Soyuz space travel, Virgin Galactic passengers will get to experience zero gravity. The company's upcoming fleet will be housed in Spaceport America, near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico which is 4,700 feet above sea level. The company chose the site for its "open land and vacancy" and great weather conditions. Plus at that elevation, the trip is not only shorter, it also requires less fuel.

The man behind Virgin Galactic is Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson, a British entrepreneur whose business interests include Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Mobile, Virgin Records and Virgin Cola and Vodka.