Justin Bieber signs up for space travel

Justin Bieber is set to take his stardom to a higher level after signing up for a trip into space alongside his manager Scooter Braun.

The Baby hitmaker and Braun join a galaxy of stars, including Ashton Kutcher and Leonardo DiCaprio, who have already signed up for the Virgin Galactic program and paid the stellar $250,000 deposit to secure their seats.

The ride will send the 19-year-old singer and his manager beyond 62 miles (99.7 kilometres) in altitude, which marks the internationally accepted boundary of space. Passengers will experience a few minutes of weightlessness, see a view of the Earth, and then enjoy a roller-coaster ride back down for a runway landing.

Virgin Galactic boss Richard Branson took to his Twitter.com page to relay the news to fans writing, "Great to hear (Justin Bieber) + (Scooter Braun) are latest (Virgin Galactic) future astronauts. Congrats (congratulations), see you up there!"

The Virgin Galactic program is not yet commercially operational, but its SpaceShipTwo craft went through its first supersonic, rocket-powered flight test in California in April (13) and is expected to begin operations at Spaceport America in New Mexico as early as next year (14).