Key highlights:
- Space Perspective has unveiled a $125,000 package to take passengers to the atmosphere on a space hot air balloon.
- Spaceship Neptune provides an eco-friendly and “radically peaceful voyage” for passengers onboard.
- The space balloon was created in collaboration with UK design studio PriestmanGoode.
A New Era of Space Travel
Space flight firm Space Perspective has unveiled a $125,000 package that takes passengers to the boundary of our atmosphere on a space-age hot air balloon.
With its pioneering trip onboard the Spaceship Neptune, a huge, hydrogen-supported balloon with a passenger capsule in tow that can float atop Earth’s atmosphere, the Florida-based business hopes to usher in a “new era in premium travel experiences. Because of the panoramic windows and reclining chairs, amateur astronauts may take in the grandeur of our home planet.
A Peaceful and Eco-friendly Voyage
The human space transportation business is currently taking bookings on its Spaceship Neptune for trips in early 2024, with tickets priced at $125,000 per person, squarely in the once-in-a-lifetime category.
The refundable reservation deposits are graded, with greater down payments required for Year One flights and lower down payments required for later reservations.
The first test flight took off on June 18 from Titusville, Florida’s Space Coast Spaceport. The unmanned trip lasted six hours and 39 minutes, but cameras on board acquired a magnificent view of the Earth at daybreak.
Typical spaceflights lay enormous demands on passengers and the environment, requiring millions of pounds of fuel for their turbulent launches.
Rather than bursting through the atmosphere at g-force speeds, Spaceship Neptune provides a “radically peaceful voyage” for passengers onboard the eight-person capsules, which are meant to be pushed skyward by a 650-foot-tall hydrogen-filled balloon – the most eco-friendly space travel alternative to date.
2024: A Space Odyssey
According to Space Perspectives, the balloon is about the size of a football field and is capable of carrying people up to 100,000 feet before gently lowering them down to Earth. The Balloon also includes a backup parachute that can safely bring the craft down.
While the initial flights of Space Perspective will take off from Florida, the firm is exploring other launch sites around the world.
The six-hour journeys will include a two-hour gradual climb to 100,000 feet above 99 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere. After that, guests will get another two hours to enjoy the 360-degree vistas from the cabin before the spacecraft begins its two-hour fall to the ocean, where it will safely splash down. The journey to the beach will be completed by ship.
The spacecraft was created in conjunction with the PriestmanGoode design firm in the United Kingdom.
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