Russian pays $1.5M to go to space with DiCaprio at Cannes auction

CANNES, France, May 25 (UPI) -- A Russian man paid $1.5 million to sit next to Leonardo DiCaprio on the maiden voyage of the Virgin Galactic trip into space.

Vasily Klyukin, 37, a businessman who lives in Monaco, bought the space trip Friday at a Cannes Film Festival charity event to raise funds for AIDS research, RIA Novosti reported.

Britain's Sky News said actresses Sharon Stone and Nicole Kidman led an auction for the seat on board the flight, which Virgin Atlantic had originally sold to travelers for $200,000. Approximately 300 people from across the world bought tickets for the maiden flight.

"You don't get to go to outer space every day with a handsome movie star," Stone said during the auction process.

Travelers will undergo three days of astronaut training in the California desert, at which point they'll take off aboard the Virgin Galactic, detach from the mother ship and launch into orbit, ABC News reported

Passengers will reach an altitude of 68.3 miles during the two-hour flight, and they'll have four minutes of weightlessness, during which they'll be allowed to release themselves from their seats and float around, RIA Novosti said.