By Jeremiah Magan

Daily Titan Opinion Editor

There are many things billionaire and entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has done in his life that people would call innovative, remarkable or ludicrous.

He is best known as being the founder of Virgin Records and the companies and business ventures that followed.

Taking a note from his airline division, Branson has introduced the world to Virgin Galactic, the first commercial spacecraft.

The world has known about Branson’s plans to create a commercial space shuttle for years, but no one really expected him to actually pull it off any time soon.

I always thought it would be a few more decades before we saw people with more money than common sense get shoved in a rocket and shot toward the heavens.

Who knew we wouldn’t have to wait for the Earth to crumble beneath our feet before that would happen?

These trips to the edge of the world are open to anyone. Well, anyone who happens to have $200,000 lying around.

In all honesty, it’s not just rich people who are among the first 300 individuals to purchase a ticket on Branson’s rocket ship to pointlessness.

Natasha Pavlovich, a native of Serbia told the Los Angeles Times that she wanted to bring pride to her homeland … by going into space. “Serbs have gotten a bad name in the press. I want to uplift all Serbs,” she said.

That’s a nice thought, especially considering she had to put the purchase of her ticket on a credit card and borrow the rest from her family. Now that they are all in debt, I’m sure all of Serbia will benefit tremendously once Pavlovich has been shot in a rocket to space.

But I am being overly pessimistic, I’m sure there are a number of positive things that will come from her trip into the atmosphere.

I can’t think of what any of those things would be, but I’m sure she’ll come up with something.

I understand the whole idea behind allowing regular people to venture into the great beyond; it allows them to play out their wildest fantasies not involving sex or being a vampire.

Though, I’m sure it won’t be long before we hear about the first two members of the 60-mile high club.

I’m a nerd. I love “Star Wars” and other space-oriented science fiction, but I’ve never turned to my other nerd friends and said, “Hey, you know what would be cool? Avoid all the training and hard work that goes into being an astronaut and pay someone to launch my lazy ass into space.”

This all just seems incredibly irresponsible. Sending just about anyone with a large bank account and too much free time on their hands into space in an experimental space craft sounds like a recipe for disaster.

I’m sure Branson and his crew have worked out most of the bugs, especially after three of the employees were killed during an engine test in 2007.

It’s probably completely safe. I mean if NASA has been sending people into space since 1958 and only a handful of their rockets have exploded, then I’m sure Branson’s VSS Enterprise will do fine with regular trips to the atmosphere on an experimental aircraft. What’s the worst that could happen?