Giggling in a Lurex space suit while balancing precariously on a wooden box for our photo shoot, Perveen Crawford is having a ball. A well-known society face, businesswoman and Hong Kong's first female pilot, we could have expected her to turn her nose up at our playful take on the space theme. But the more time you spend with her, the more you realise that this lady knows how to have a good time. "Well, it's helping my training," she says laughing, as she balances uncomfortably in the hot suit. "Think of my stomach muscles!"
The training Crawford refers to is in preparation for the trip of a lifetime. She is about to embark on a journey into space. One of 100 "Founder Astronauts," she will be aboard Richard Branson's inaugural Virgin Galactic space mission in 2008. "I was invited to the Virgin Atlantic launch party at Cyberport and I casually asked if Richard Branson was around and this English guy said, 'Yeah, he's sitting over there.' So, I built up my courage and thought, 'What have I got to lose,' and introduced myself to him. I told him I was Hong Kong's first female pilot and he asked, 'Would you like to be Hong Kong's first female astronaut?'"
"I said yes straight away because I thought he was kidding! We exchanged email addresses and he followed up and asked if I was really serious about being the first Hong Kong astronaut and I was like, 'Yes!' Mind you, I was just as excited when I saw that it was Richard Branson emailing me. I didn't expect a billionaire like him to talk to a small potato like me. He's a very genuine, down-to-earth person."
As Crawford talks animatedly about the jouney she is on, it's clear Richard Branson is not the only one who is down to earth. Joining a plethora of celebrities on the flight, this space voyager seems to be talking it all in her stride. "My fellow astronauts are John Travolta, Victoria Principle, Moby, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Prince Andrew's daughter, Beatrice. I like John Travolta because he is a pilot and is devoted to his wife and children; I like people who are devoted to their principles."
"I have to lose weight and get fit," says Crawford with a jokey roll of the eyes. "You might see me running round the cemetery to do my workout. Why cemetery? Well, there are lots of staircases up and down it and, when I'm there, I don't need to put on my make-up. It's only the spirits who can see me, so I run up and down and say hi to the graves and 'Maybe I'll see you up there!'"
Jokes aside, there is a steely determination to Crawford; she is taking this challenge very seriously. "I have to do zero-gravity training and the vomit comet training,' she says, straight-faced. "That's where you get flung around really quickly and then they slow you down. I think I will do a lot of it at Ocean Park."
The end result for all of this hard work is an once-in-a-lifetime experience. "We will leave the atmosphere, see the curvature of the earth and float around. I hope to see some aliens. I think it will be mind-boggling just to be floating and seeing the little Earth outside your window. There will be a camera on each one of us, so all of our emotions and feelings will be taped."
Crawford is alive with enthusiasm about her great adventure, and she is looking forward to sharing her experience with others afterwards. "A lot of people have asked me to be a speaker to motivate teenagers and especially women. I hope I will motivate more women to realise that life is not over after marriage and kids and you can pick up something new and do something that you have dreamt of."
As she goes to leave, Crawford pulls on her jacket and remarks, "For me, the hardest bit will be to lose weight and the training. But I have made my mind up and I will do it. But I won't depreive myself of champagne."
There'll surely be plenty of that when Virgin Galactic touches back down.