New Zealand artist Makoure Scott hopes to create work while weightless on the inaugural flight of Virgin Galactic, the first privately run venture into space.

Scott is expected to be the first professional artist to draw in space.

Scott earned a berth on SpaceShipTwo, the first spaceship to be launched by Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, by submitting a portfolio of his work and has paid $200,000 for his ticket.

Scott is a painter and environmental artist who incorporates elements of Maori and Pakeha cultures in his sculptures and paintings.

He paints using materials such as sand, stone and tree gums from the area to emphasize his organic connection to the land. He has exhibited around the world.

Virgin Galactic plans a number of flights out of a spaceport in New Mexico. They will go into suborbital space, about 100 kilometres above the Earth.

Participants will experience weightlessness — and Scott is hoping to draw while weightless.

Scott has gone for early training for the flight with Virgin Galactic and learned his spacesuit will have to be modified to allow for more hand movement so he can draw.

The hardest part will probably be the re-entry, he told the New Zealand Herald in an article published Tuesday.

"It's about two and a half thousand miles an hour so that's a bit of momentum. Not sure if I can hold a pencil that steady," he said.

"Being an artist, it's always good to gather inspiration in other ways," he added.

Among the other private "astronauts" to earn berths on early Virgin Galactic flights are Branson, his son Sam, James Lovelock, the scientist behind Gaia theory and a man who earned his spot by cashing in frequent flyer points.

Virgin Galactic spaceships are still being developed and tested. The first flight is expected in about a year.