Perveen Crawford, a Hong Kong female socialite who will take a tour in the space in 2008, has got best wishes from Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders, according to local report on Sunday.

The Sunday edition of the South China Morning Post said the former US Air Force major-general wished the Hong Kong space tourist "the very best of luck" in an e-mail to the newspaper after the paper reported Crawford's plan to visit the space.

Crawford said she was "honored and very proud" to receive best wishes from the former astronaut, who was one of the first three astronauts to orbit the moon in 1968.

Crawford, who became Hong Kong's first female pilot in 1995, may join the likes of film stars Join Travolta and Victoria Principal as the world's first 100 private astronauts to go into the space in 2008.

Under the space visit program, the group will receive a two-week training course to acclimatize to zero gravity, listen to lectures and take a medical assessment before they start their trip aboard Virgin Galactic.

It is estimated that the trip may cost each tourist some US$200,000.

(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2006)