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LONDON, England -- William Shatner wants to boldly go where he's only pretended to go so far.<br /><br />The "Star Trek" star is among more than 7,000 people who have told Richard Branson they would gladly pay him $210,000 (£115,000) for a trip aboard his planned spacecraft, the entrepreneur said Friday.<br /><br />Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro has signed up for a ride, and a Hollywood director who was not identified has booked an entire ship.<br /><br />Trevor Beattie, chairman of the ad agency TBWA -- responsible for campaigns such as the "Hello Boys" Wonderbra campaign with Eva Herzigova -- offered to send a check as soon as the project was launched last month.<br /><br />In all, more than $1.45 billion (£800 million) has been pledged -- years before the Virgin Galactic spaceship is even built, Branson said.<br /><br />Branson, 54, is pouring $135 million (£74 million) into his latest commercial experiment, which promises to send the paying public 70 miles above the planet to experience six minutes of weightlessness and see the curvature of the Earth.<br /><br />Speaking from the Mojave Desert in California, Branson told the UK's Press Association he was overwhelmed by the response.<br /><br />"We are extremely pleased because it just means in a sense that the gamble we took seems to have paid off," he said.<br /><br />"Market research suggested that there were that sort of number of people willing to agree to that sort of price.<br /><br />"We have committed £60 million and we have had a tremendous take-up. All indicators are that the risk was worth taking.<br /><br />In addition to that amount, Virgin has spent £14 million buying the licensing rights to Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne, which successfully launched into space twice earlier this month to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize.<br /><br />Five- or nine-seater spacecraft are being designed which will travel at three times the speed of sound. The journey into space will last around three and a half hours.<br />