Kate Winslet Receives Ticket to Space - East Idaho News
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Kate Winslet Receives Ticket to Space

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Getty E 122812 KateWinslet?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1356723392713MICHAEL GOTTSCHALK/AFP/Getty Images(LONDON) — Kate Winslet will blast off to space thanks to a $200,000 ticket gifted to the actress from Sir Richard Branson.

According to The Daily Telegraph, the actress, who recently married Branson’s nephew Ned RocknRoll, received the out-of-this-world ticket from Branson as a thank you for rescuing his mother from a fire last year.  Winslet, who became a household name after her character survived the Titanic, became a hero when she rescued Branson’s then-90-year-old mother from a 4 a.m. fire at the private residence the businessman owns on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands.

As a thank you, Winslet will head to outer space.

According to the Virgin website, Winslet can look forward to “a brief moment of quiet before a wave of unimaginable but controlled power surges” during her journey in the Virgin Galactic shuttle.  That’s before being “instantly pinned back into your seat, overwhelmed but enthralled by the howl of the rocket motor and the eye- watering acceleration which, as you watch the read-out, has you traveling in a matter of seconds, at almost 2500 mph, over 3 times the speed of sound.”

Winslet’s new husband is reportedly a part-time employee of Virgin Galactic, and it’s unclear if he’ll be joining her for the ride into space.  Virgin Galactic, which plans to start flights next year, has already sold 530 tickets for £124,000 each; such people as Russell Brand, Ashton Kutcher and science genius Stephen Hawking are slated to go into low earth orbit.
 
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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