The company Space Perspective invites you to reserve a place for a ride in the stratosphere aboard its ship "Neptune". You still have to have the means:count 125,000 US dollars per seat!
In June 2020, the American start-up Space Perspective unveiled its first plans to offer "high-altitude balloon" travel. The principle is to install up to eight passengers in a pressurized cabin called Neptune, fixed under a balloon with a diameter equivalent to that of an American football field, to send them into the stratosphere, about thirty kilometers from height.
As far as the calendar is concerned, Space Perspective foresees the first commercial flights as early as 2024 with a ticket price set at 125,000 dollars (about 112,000 euros) . Moreover, the ticket office is already open for those interested.
Pending these first commercial flights, Space Perspective plans to carry out several uncrewed test flights. The first of these tests took place on June 18 from Space Coast Spaceport, Florida. During this flight, which lasted six hours and 39 minutes, the balloon reached a maximum altitude of 33,043 meters before descending and landing as planned in the Gulf of Mexico, about 80 kilometers off the west coast of Florida.
This first test flight involved a full-scale, but incomplete "mock-up" of the capsule. The company will spend the next few months working on a more detailed design of the Neptune before carrying out an upcoming series of test flights with a true prototype faithful to the commercial capsule.
Finally, commercial flight plans will be much the same. Depending on prevailing winds, it will also be possible the balloons will drift not into the Gulf of Mexico, but eastward over the Atlantic before descending and landing, according to Spacenews.
Once in place, Space Perspective will compete with other companies, primarily Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, in the space tourism business.
Unlike Space Perspective, these two companies have both built suborbital ships that will carry passengers much higher than the Neptune, at around one hundred kilometers altitude. On the other hand, these flights will be more "eventful" and much shorter. A trip on board the Blue Origin New Shepard vehicle, for example, will last only eleven minutes from takeoff to landing.
In addition, ticket prices will also be more expensive. Whether it's Virgin Galactic or blue Origin, it will take about 250,000 US dollars to offer their services. Also, although Space Perspective does not fly as high, the company could attract less wealthy customers wishing to enjoy a much longer flight experience.
