What the Material Diva wants, the Material Diva gets, right? Well, not quite. Duma, the Russian parliament, has turned down Madonna's application to visit the International Space Station in 2008. When Madonna's plea to "to go into space and board the ISS" was presented before the Duma, 42 legislators said yes to letting her vogue in zero-gravity, but 252 voted against it.

It was not known if Madonna's rejection was influenced by the Russian Orthodox Christians who believed she was "under the influence of the devil." It seems that pop stars don't have the right stuff when it comes to space travel as prior to Madonna, ex-N'Sync member Lance Bass also failed to reserve a seat for a field trip in space.

Oh well, the Like a Virgin singer can always line up for Virgin Galactic tickets for its near future suborbital flights.

Space Tourism sure is definitely on a full-swing, as it gains popularity among those who can particularly afford it. From businessmen to pop stars (remember Lance Bass of N'sync?), we just might soon have the first female space tourist.

US Entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari - who's been speculated months ago to possibly be the first female space tourist - has her eyes set on a possible 2008 flight to the International Space Station (ISS). She has spent the last few months training as a backup spaceflyer for Japanese businessman Daisuke Enomoto for its September 14 launch. The Japanese tycoon is reportedly paying $20 million for a 10-day roundtrip to the orbital laboratory.

Keeping in mind that she needs all the preparation she can get for her awaited mission, Ansari gladly jumped at the opportunity offered to her by Space Adventures officials to be Enomoto's backup. “I’m mentally prepared to do that and it would be a great personal experience,” says Ansari on her being a backup. But inasmuch as it may give her that one step closer to her goal of setting off to space, she would rather bide her time, and just do the necessary preparations for her trip. “But for my flight I have a lot of projects that I’d like to do, and if I fly now that means that none of those projects would be there."

U.S. businessman and former Microsoft software developer Charles Simonyi goes ahead Ansari in the exclusive list of space tourists after signing a contract with Russian space officials to fly toward the ISS in Spring 2007, which would be on the next Soyuz to fly after Enomoto launches with the ISS Expedition 14 Crew.