Ashton Kutcher books ticket No. 500 on Virgin Galactic

Ashton Kutcher had better pack some cashmere booties, 'cause we hear it's cold in space.

Richard Branson, he of the Virgin empire, announced that "Two and a Half Men" star Kutcher was the 500th customer of his Virgin Galactic space commercial line — dropping $200,000 to climb on board the craft that lets mere mortals cruise above the planet.

"Our 500th future astronaut customer has just signed up! Even better news is that number 500 is Ashton Kutcher. I gave Ashton a quick call to congratulate and welcome him," Branson said on his blog.

"He is as thrilled as we are at the prospect of being among the first to cross the final frontier (and back!) with us and to experience the magic of space for himself."

Branson said Kutcher is taking the ride with entrepreneur pal Shervin Pishevar, customer No. 499, as the men realized that they "both shared a childhood dream of going to space."  

Without going all Bill Nye the Science Guy on the explanation, we tap our tech pals for an assist: Virgin Galactic will offer its customers suborbital flights, which will climb to the edge of space, or about 60 miles above the Earth's surface. At that altitude, passengers will experience weightlessness and see the curvature of the Earth.

Other celebrities reported to have snatched up future flights include Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and Katy Perry. Virgin Galactic is, according to Branson, "in the final stages of our exhaustive test flight program."

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Photo: Ashton Kutcher arrives at the Colcci collection presentation at Sao Paulo Fashion Week in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Jan. 22. Credit: Andre Penner / Associated Press

Kate Winslet details a bra-free escape from scary fire [Video]

Kate Winslet is clearly alluring as a heroine, but until now few knew how very alluring she was while getting her kids and Richard Branson's mother to safety during an August fire in the British Virgin Islands.

Over the weekend, the Oscar winner fleshed out previously scant details from the night of the blaze with some scantily-clad details offered on the BBC's "The Graham Norton Show."

Upon waking in the middle of the night to shouts outside the Virgin honcho's home on private Necker Island, Winslet said she first ran toward the fire, "because clearly I thought I could put it out." Then again, maybe not this one, Kate — the lightning-sparked blaze wound up destroying the Great House.

After pausing to figure out her next move, she reached for — a bra? Well, of course. "In disastrous moments like that, you do the strangest things," she said. "I started to put on a bra and thought, 'No, that's going to take me too long,' so off came the bra, on came the T-shirt, grabbed the bag, grabbed the children and picked up granny,"

Granny was 90-year-old Eve Branson, who'd been among the 20 people staying in the eight-bedroom Great House where Vanessa Minnillo and Nick Lachey were married in July.

So, did she really save Eve's life? "No," Winslet said. "I didn't save her life. I carried her downstairs is the truth of it." But they were in fact in the middle of a hurricane as well as a "genuinely very scary" fire, she said, not to mention at the top of some slippery stone steps.

Watch the interview below. Printed quotes don't do Winslet's story-telling skills justice.

 

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Photo: Kate Winslet at the Venice Film Festival in September. Credit: Frederic Nebinger / Getty Images

Kate Winslet, kids flee fire on Richard Branson's private island

Kate Winslet and her children were among those who escaped safely from an overnight fire that destroyed the Great House on billionaire Richard Branson's private island in the British Virgin Islands.

Twenty people, including the Oscar-winning actress, Branson's mother, Eve, and his daughter, Holly, were staying in the eight-bedroom Great House. The Virgin honcho, who lost an office and thousands of pictures in the ruined building on Necker Island, was staying nearby with his wife and 25-year-old son Sam.

"We had a really bad tropical storm with winds up to 90 miles per hour. A big lightning storm came around 4 a.m. and hit the house," Branson said Monday in a statement.

"My son Sam rushed to the house and helped get everyone out."

Winslet was vacationing with her 10-year-old daughter, Mia, her 7-year-old son, Joe, and her on-and-off boyfriend, British model Louis Dowler. Winslet and husband Sam Mendes split up last year.

Necker Island sounding familiar? That's where Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo got married -- and filmed their TLC wedding special -- in July. It was also expected to be the site of Holly Branson's wedding to fiance Fred Andrews later this year.

"We want to rebuild the house as soon as we can," papa Branson said. "We have a wonderful staff here and we want them to stay in work. We'll all stay here for the time being. There's a lot of damage and we won't be able to stick it back together again right away.

"It was a beautiful house."

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The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Photos: Kate Winslet; Richard Branson. Credits: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times; Torsten Blackwood / AFP/Getty Images