Bob Geldof books seat on space-plane

LONDON, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Singer Bob Geldof says he will be the first Irishman in space after booking a $100,000 seat on a private Space Expedition Corp. flight.

"Being the first Irishman in space is not only a fantastic honor but pretty mind-blowing. The first rock astronaut space rat! Elvis may have left the building but Bob Geldof will have left the planet," Britain's Daily Mirror quoted the 61-year-old Boomtown Rats musician as saying. "Wild! Who would have thought it possible in my lifetime."

The company has vowed to launch 100 people into space by 2014.

The Lynx X2 rocket-powered space-plane is to take off from Curacao in the Caribbean and travel 62 miles into space.

Geldof is scheduled to undergo training in a space flight simulator in Holland this weekend, the Mirror said.