Hedge fund executive set to blast into space - twice

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A visit to outer space would be a once in a lifetime adventure for most people. But if all goes to plan over the next three years, a Singapore-based hedge fund executive will blast off not once but twice.

Michael Blum, a German national, is booked on UK billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, which expects to launch its first commercial spacecraft in early 2013. He has also signed up with another firm, Space Expedition Curacao, that hopes to launch its first flight by 2014.

"I care about flying a lot, which is why I'm interested in space. I also feel strongly that private industry is going to be more successful than government in getting technology ready for commercial use," the 35-year-old told Reuters.

Blum said his trip on the Virgin Galactic craft will likely take place in late 2013 or early 2014, while his trip with Space Expedition will probably take place in late 2014.

Space tourism involves taking paying passengers over 100 kilometres above ground level, where they will experience the feeling of weightlessness and see the earth in its entirety, much like astronauts.

Blum, president and COO of U.S.-based financial advisory firm Hedgeye Risk Management, declined to discuss costs, but media reports say that it costs $200,000 to be a passenger on one of Virgin Galactic's flight to space, and that 450 people around the world have paid for the privilege.

With Dutch-based Space Expedition, he will go one step further, becoming co-pilot of a spacecraft that will take off from Curacao island in the Caribbean.

Blum, a licensed pilot, says some family members, in particular his mother, were concerned about his plans but have since come around. His wife has been supportive from the start.

He has already done some training with Virgin Galactic by going on flights that stimulate the G-force astronauts feel when taking off at high speed as well as the weightlessness they experience once in space, and relishes the idea of trying out the real thing -- as well as a new adventure.

"I've dived with great white sharks off the coast of Mexico. I've also driven racing cars.� But this experience is going to be by far the most interesting and significant."

(Reporting by Kevin Lim; editing by Elaine Lies)