A Russian businessman has paid $200 000 to take his parents miles above Earth on a ride in a space ship, the Interfax news agency reported on Monday.

"When I told my mother we were going to fly in space, she asked me just one question: 'When?'," the man, Igor Kutsenko, was quoted as saying.

He bought the tickets to take his parents and a friend.

"We booked a couple of extra places. Maybe one of our friends will want to come too," said Kutsenko, a 34-year-old who runs an advertising agency.

Another businessman, Timur Artemiev, also bought tickets along with his wife for the trip on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo craft, which is to take them 100 kilometres above the Earth.

Virgin Galactic commercial director Stephen Attenboro said 250 people, including 11 Russians, had signed up for flights on SpaceShipTwo, according to the agency.

The company's commercial space flights are due to start in 2010. Passengers will take a two-hour flight and spend four minutes floating in zero gravity, he said.

AFP