Google Cofounder To Become Space Tourist

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has announced he'll be join the ranks of the ultra-wealthy booking a space flight. Brin's date with the sky will be in 2011 when he will be one of the passengers aboard Russian Soyuz rocket. Brin has put down a $5 million deposit with Space Adventures, a company which has already sent five tourists into space for $20 to $35 million each. Brin is the first of six founding members of an "Orbital Mission Explorers Circle" who will each contribute $5 million to pay for the company to launch its first private mission to the International Space Station. Visitors to the space station may be allowed to take their own space experiments with them.

Google has previously demonstrated an interest in space travel, funding the Google Lunar X Prize, a $25 million competition to get a spacecraft to the moon.