Space Perspective: Balloon company offers cheaper flights into space

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Space Perspective: Balloon company offers cheaper flights into space

The 198-metre-tall balloon can carry up to eight guests along with the pilot in a capsule that includes a bar and bathroom. It will offer 360-degree views and reclining seats.

The 198-metre-tall balloon can carry up to eight guests along with the pilot in a capsule that includes a bar and bathroom. It will offer 360-degree views and reclining seats.

Space Perspective, the space tourism company that plans to launch a space balloon from the Space Coast is ready to take your money.

After completing a successful test flight on June 18, the company has opened up reservations for the planned 2024 launches of what will be its first passenger-ready balloon, the Neptune One. According to the company, the flights for 2024 have already sold out. Flights for 2025 are now on sale.

The price: $US125,000 ($A164,000) per person, but prospective passengers need only deposit $US1000 for now. The total price point is half of what Virgin Galactic charged its first round of customers, who have yet to fly in its rocket-propelled crafts 80 kilometres into space for a short trip, and that price is likely to go up.

Space tourism company Space Perspective launched its test balloon Neptune One from Space Coast Spaceport in Florida on June 18.

Space tourism company Space Perspective launched its test balloon Neptune One from Space Coast Spaceport in Florida on June 18.

Blue Origin is set to fly its first trip on its New Shepard rocket, and that price point has yet to be set, but an anonymous (for now) bidder paid $US28 million to be its first passenger along with founder Jeff Bezos along for the 11-minute ride.

The space balloon is a different approach, offering a 6 hour flight, with a 2-hour ascent to 32 kilometres altitude, followed by two hours of floating above Earth before a two-hour descent.

"A flight on Spaceship Neptune is meant to be as effortless as boarding a commercial aircraft," said company co-founder Jane Poynter. "The experience is designed as such that if one is medically fit to board an airplane, then they are well-suited for this journey."

According to the company, the flights for 2024 have already sold out. Flights for 2025 are now on sale.

According to the company, the flights for 2024 have already sold out. Flights for 2025 are now on sale.

She and co-founder Taber MacCallum, known for living for two years isolated from the world in the Biosphere 2 habitat in the 1990s, have moved hit their timeline goals after receiving millions from an investment group that includes motivational speaker Tony Robbins.

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The test flight on June 18 accomplished his the 32 kilometres altitude target reaching 33,043 metres while crossing the state from east to west and splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico during a 6 hour, 39 minute flight. The company plans a crewed test flight in 2023.

"We anticipate piloting 25 flights in the first year, all departing at various time frames throughout the year," Poynter said. "We plan to fly from locations around the world to give our customers a diverse itinerary of experiences to choose from."

Its first launch site though is from the Space Coast Spaceport in Brevard County, currently where its operations centre is located at the old Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center.

The 198-metre-tall balloon can carry up to eight guests along with the pilot in a capsule that includes a bar and bathroom. It will offer 360-degree views and reclining seats.

"We are giving people unprecedented access to the wonder of space travel, making it luxurious, comfortable, and accessible to anyone with the means and dreams," Poynter said.

Reservations can be made at www.spaceperspective.com

TNS

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