Virgin Galactic has rather churlishly rejected a $1m offer to allow an unnamed company to shoot a zero-grav grumble flick aboard its SpaceShipTwo vehicle - thereby depriving science of crucial research into how humanity might procreate during the very long haul to the nearest Earth-like planet once we've finally screwed this ball of dirt we call home.

The cash was slapped on the table "up-front, for a sex-in-space movie", said the company's prez, Will Whitehorn, According to Space.com. He confirmed: "That was money we had to refuse, I'm afraid."

The rumpy-pumpy-free Virgin Galactic programme is gearing up to take space tourists aloft aboard SpaceShipTwo at $200k a pop, having apparently already snaffled $40m in deposits from 280 customers keen to enjoy the two-hour jaunt to 62 miles (100km).

During the trip, punters will experience around five minutes of weightlessness - just long enough for a quick hump and a money shot, by our reckoning.

The original planned launch date of the service was 2007, although this has been revised to 2010. The first flight of the WhiteKnight Two mothership was recently knocked back to late 2008 at the earliest, while SpaceShipTwo trials begin next year. ®