Alien star Sigourney Weaver has turned down an invitation from Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson to join him on a journey into space.
There might be an alien aboard! 'What's she doing here? What does it mean?!'
The 60-year-old actress issued a public plea to Branson in 2008, begging the British entrepreneur to let her be the next celebrity to venture into space.
She said, "I'd love to go (to space). Sure, if I had the opportunity. Iread somewhere that I was going... I apparently was on the passenger list. I was apparently on the invitation (from Branson)".
The invitation eventually turned up on her doorstep, but Weaver admits she chose to decline the offer because the sci-fi icon, who famously battled extraterrestrials in space as Lieutenant Ellen Ripley in the horror franchise, didn't want to scare other passengers on the Virgin Galactic 'spaceliner'.
She says, "Richard Branson was kind enough to invite me but I thought the last thing people who pay that kind of money want to see is me, comingout, looking in the overhead rack looking for God knows what. There might be an alien aboard! 'What's she doing here? What does it mean?!'"
A trip on the first privately developed carrier is estimated to cost $200,000 (£125,000). Bosses at Branson's Virgin Galactic will begin testing the craft early next year (10), with the first flights due to launch in 2011.
