Beer lovers get chance to win a trip to space

Washington, July 3 (ANI): Love beer and have a dream to travel to the space? Well, here's your chance to fulfil your wish-just enter a new contest by the company behind the dark Irish beer Guinness.he beer bosses have reserved a seat aboard a suborbital Virgin Galactic space liner as one of three experience prizes in an online contest honouring the 250th birthday of the beer's brewery this year.

Founded by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic is a commercial space tourism company that plans to launch passengers on 200,000 dollars trips to sub-orbital space using a fleet of SpaceShipTwo spacecraft.

Guinness officials have said that their space trip contest runs through September 24, and promises a thrilling ride for the winner.

They claim that the launch will catapult passengers beyond Earth's atmosphere at nearly 2,500 mph - three times the speed of sound - to a point about 68 miles above the planet.

After entering the space, passengers can have a view of the blackness of space and unbroken vistas of the Earth for 1,000 miles in every direction before re-entering the atmosphere and gliding back to its homeport.

The contest was announced to commemorate founder Arthur Guinness' signing of the 9,000-year lease on the St. James's Gate brewery in Dublin, Ireland.

Almost 250 events are planned in participating countries around the world. And all the events are open to adults of legal drinking age in their respective countries.

"Since 1759, Arthur Guinness and the Guinness brand have been behind some remarkable and hugely momentous achievements. To continue this legacy and as part of the 250 celebrations, Guinness is giving something back to Guinness supporters around the world by offering the chance to win one of these three remarkable Guinness experiences," Fox News quoted Guinness officials as saying in a statement.

The other two prizes in the contest include an undersea trip to a Guinness bar 229 feet below the ocean's surface near the Lofoten Islands in Norway, as well as a private live studio performance by the band The Black Eye Peas. (ANI)