Have you ever thought of the possibility that Carl Fredricksen’s floating house in Up might ever come to life? Or maybe the gigantic spacecraft Axiom that people have been living on in Wall-E? Well, wonder no more as Space Perspective is now taking reservations on its flight above the Earth’s atmosphere.
The idea was pretty simple, board the “explorers,” as the company calls the passengers, in Spaceship Neptune and take them up to about 100,000 feet into the sky and above 99% of the Earth’s atmosphere, and let them enjoy the 360-degrees view from the cabin then carefully descend everyone back to the ocean.
The whole experience would run for about six hours— two hours for its ascendant, two hours for the passengers’ leisure time, and two hours descendant to the ocean. The passengers would, later on, be escorted back to the shore by a ship.
With just $125,000 (around PHP6 million) per person, priced as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, you’re all set to join the flight in early 2024.
Although the cruise is technically not outer space and gravity will most likely be the same, the flight will still bring you the darkness and emptiness that you can experience in space, and most of all, the glorious view of the roundness of Earth at that altitude. Also, the price is already much cheaper than the offers from Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic which costs about $250,000 (around PHP12 million) per person. However, the payment will be refundable and passengers don’t need astronaut training nor even a spacesuit to visit the cosmos.
Space Perspective also made sure that the passengers would comfortably enjoy the whole experience. The company teamed up with UK design studio PriestmanGoode to craft the balloon.
“We looked at all the different elements that would make the experience not just memorable, but truly comfortable as well… We wanted to make sure that passengers would be able to get 360-degree unobstructed views and that we created an efficient space that would enable them to move around during the journey,” said Nigel Goode, designer, and co-founder of PriestmanGoode.
The size of the hydrogen-filled balloon is about the length of a football field with a 100-meter diameter, and the size of the capsule is about 5 meters in diameter. The balloon goes tall by 650 feet in full inflation.
This company from Florida’s cruise was made possible by the company’s founders Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum. MacCallum stated their company’s goal for this project, “Few endeavors are more meaningful than enabling people to experience the inspiring perspective of our home planet in space for the betterment of all, and that’s what we are accomplishing with Space Perspective.”
They also pointed out how they wanted people’s access to space change as well as their view of our own planet. “We’re committed to fundamentally changing the way people have access to space — both to perform much-needed research to benefit life on Earth and to affect how we view and connect with our planet,” said Poynter.
Spaceflights for 2024 are sold out and over 300 seats have already been reserved. The next spaceflight will be in 2025, to book your ticket you can visit spaceperspective.com/bookyourspaceflight.
Source: https://www.spaceperspective.com/
