Startup Wants To Bring Tourists To Space Via Massive Balloons

Another startup is entering the space tourism race. Unlike Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, however, there are no rockets involved.

Space Perspective — launched by husband and wife duo Taber MacCallum and Jane Poynter — touted their firm’s six-hour space voyage to Fox Business’ Stuart Varney. Fox Business reports:

Space Perspective reimagines the thrill of space exploration with the world’s most radically gentle voyage to space. Space Explorers and travel adventurers looking to upgrade their bucket list can now savor 360-degree views of planet Earth from 20 mi/30 km above, on a luxurious six-hour trip inside Spaceship Neptune, propelled by a state-of-the-art space balloon the size of a football stadium.

Space Perspective’s website adds:

Your six-hour voyage on Spaceship Neptune is safe and comfortable, with minimal physical requirements and as simple as boarding an airplane. Launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and flown gently by a spaceballoon instead of rockets, a ride on the zero-emissions Spaceship Neptune offers the thrill of space and the comfort of calm. Spaceship Neptune comprises the capsule, spaceballoon, and reserve descent system.

Our advanced spaceballoon is designed to operate in space where Spaceship Neptune flies. The size of a football stadium, the spaceballoon gently flies the capsule for ascent and descent. It is proven technology that NASA and government agencies around the world have used for decades for flying large research telescopes and other scientific instruments. As far back as the 1930s, the first person to see the curvature of earth did so from beneath a spaceballoon like Spaceship Neptune’s.

The capsule features nine reclining, plush seats, 360-degree panoramic views, and a refreshments bar.

“This is the slow, gentle way to go,” MacCallum, a former technical adviser to Elon Musk on human spaceflight, told Varney.

A ticket on Spaceship Neptune costs $125,000 — which, although four times the median income in the United States, is half of Virgin Galactic’s $250,000 offering. The experience is already sold out through 2024, with many consumers planning for weddings and proposals while on board.

As The Daily Wire reported, Richard Branson became the first person to enter space via his own vehicle on July 11. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, there it is. More than half a century since the world rejoiced when humans first achieved spaceflight, Richard Branson fulfills his dream of experiencing space travel,” said comedian Stephen Colbert, who hosted coverage of the launch on behalf of Virgin Galactic.

In the coming days, Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos will attempt to match Branson’s feat.

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