Stephen Hawking, astronaut?

This past Monday, January 8 2007, was Stephen William Hawking's 65th birthday. Gareth Branwyn writes:

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he told them that one of the things he plans on doing this year is taking a ride on the Vomit Comet (the zero-G airplane), and then, in 2009, to go into space via Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo. Sir Richard Branson is picking up the tab for his ride.

Link to the full text of Gareth's post on streetech.com (Photo: Rob Bodman). See also this space-related post there: Did Viking Missions Overlook Life on Mars, or Worse? Link.