Kate Winslet is desperate to go into space.

The Oscar-winning actress is keen to briefly leave planet Earth to go into another stratosphere, according to Sir Richard Branson.

The entrepreneur - who runs the Virgin Galactic programme, which is planning to launch space tours of Earth in 2014 - told Life & Style magazine: ''She wants to go to space. I'm not sure she wants to go on a one-way trip to Mars, but she wants to go to space.''

Kate is dating Richard's nephew Ned Rocknroll, after meeting on the businessman's Necker Island last August when a fire broke out, and Richard is thrilled things worked out between them.

He said: ''Fortunately, the one good thing that came out of the fire was this romance. They're both very outward going and seem extremely happy together.''

Earlier this week, Richard revealed he wants to start a colony on Mars and thinks it is an achievable dream.

He said: ''In my lifetime, I'm determined to being a part of starting a population on Mars. I think it is absolutely realistic. It will happen. I think it is absolutely realistic. It will happen.''