Space tourism depends on client buzz

The company wants to send 500 people into space in its first year of flights — roughly the same number of people who have gone up in 45 years of space travel.

One is Alan Walton, a 70-year-old daredevil who has skydived at the North Pole, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and is penning a book about life as a founder that will climax with his trip to the cosmos.

Walton, who emigrated from England with just $10 and made his fortune in biotechnology and venture capital, was among to first to send in his check.

"This is something that I spend every day thinking about — the excitement of doing something that so few people have the chance to do," said Walton of Westport, Conn.

Not everyone is eager to sign up with Virgin Galactic.

Reda Anderson, a 66-year-old real estate investor from Los Angeles who has dived down to the Titanic and driven across the Gobi Desert, preferred Rocketplane Kistler because unlike Virgin Galactic, the company gives her open access during construction of its spacecraft.

"If someone is secretive," she said, "I tend to shy away."

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