The Future of Space Tourism for the Masses: Stratospheric Balloon Flights

by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 7:35 PM ET, Wed December 18, 2024

While Space X, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic may have captured the imaginations of Americans when it comes to the potential of space travel, these three well-known names are not the only contenders in the space race.

In fact, a new, slightly less well-known company is busy building an option to explore “the edge of space” that it says will democratize this type of travel, offering a luxury space experience at far more approachable prices.

And that’s not all, the same company says its approach to edge-of-space exploration is more eco-friendly and sustainable then that of the aforementioned companies.

The upstart behind all of these bold developments and promises? Space Perspective, the world's first carbon-neutral "spaceflight experience” company.

“Our goal is to create attainable space flight,” Space Perspective’s Head of Strategic Growth, Hunter Abramson, recently told TravelPulse, adding that any traveler who is able-bodied enough to fly on a commercial airline, would also be qualified to travel to the edge of space with Space Perspective. Meaning, that’s how accessible the process is with Space Perspective.

As for the price of tickets, travelers may have to dip into their nest egg or retirement fund to cover the steep cost, but hundreds are already eagerly doing so in order to reserve their seat on a journey to the edge of space.

Space Perspective's Spaceship Neptune capsule

What is Space Perspective offering?

Space Perspective’s website promotes a very sleek, upscale space experience, one that takes place in a unique capsule that’s ferried by a SpaceBalloon up through the sky to an altitude of approximately 100,000 feet—putting travelers above 99% of Earth's atmosphere.

Dubbed a “spaceship like no other,” the capsule is Spaceship Neptune, which Space Perspective says offers the safest and most accessible spaceflight experience available. The capsule is also the largest such spaceflight capsule in existence, says Space Perspective.

The company’s patented SpaceBalloon meanwhile, is another key differentiator between Space Perspective and other space exploration companies.

The spaceflight experience being offered by Space Perspective relies upon the SpaceBalloon to gently lift Spaceship Neptune up into the air, through the clouds and beyond. And this process takes place very slowly, over the span of hours. In other words, just the opposite of a SpaceX blast off, for example.

“It’s a six hour journey. You travel at 12 miles an hour and it’s a very, very calm flight up that takes about two hours. Then you spend two hours at 100,000 feet,” explains Abramson.

For those who may be given pause by the idea of a SpaceBalloon, it is proven technology. In fact, the same type of balloon technology has flown to space more than 1,000 times by NASA.

Now for perhaps the most jaw dropping image to be found on the Space Perspective website. That of the space lounge in which passengers travel. The cushy, upscale lounge looks like something you’d find in a high-end hotel. Except this lounge is surrounded by windows that provide views of the Earth below.

“You get to experience seeing the Earth with the largest windows ever flown to space, providing a 360-degree view,” continues Abramson.

Within this posh lounge guests have access to a bar, food, and bathrooms, or as Abramson likes to joke “a loo with a view.”

Interior of the Spaceship Neptune capsule

But it’s what’s going on outside the windows that's really the show stealer: A view of the blue planet below you.

“A lot of astronauts become astronauts because they want to explore space. But what find they get to space, is they’ve actually discovered Earth,” says Abramson. “That’s is really the essence of what we’re providing. Yes, everyone wants to go to space and have this experience. But what you really are going to be seeing surrounded by the blackness of space - is the Earth that you live on. And the thin blue line that goes around that Earth that keeps you safe.”

An engineering feat

While it’s easy to get caught up in the imagery and luxury of it all, it’s also important to note that Space Perspective’s edge-of-space offering has also been tested and trial run to establish its safety.

In September, the company completed a full flight profile of its uncrewed Spaceship Neptune-Excelsior, which is the fully-operational test vehicle of the spaceship that will eventually take travelers to the edge of space.

The flight launched from Marine Spaceport (MS) Voyager off the coast of St. Petersburg, Florida on September 15, and it marked an important benchmark for the company on the way to fully crewed test flights.

Over the course of the six-hour test journey, the spacecraft reached its peak altitude of 100,000 feet (the highest-ever commercial balloon flight) before performing a controlled descent and splashdown, showcasing the full flight profile and validating key technology.

Taber MacCallum, founder and CTO of Space Perspective, said after the test run that the "uncrewed flight not only proves our pioneering technology, but also brings us a giant leap closer to making space accessible for everyone and reaffirms our belief in the transformative power of space travel.”

Among other things, the test run established that the Spaceship Neptune capsule maintained cabin pressure and stability at peak altitude, confirming the safety, design and performance of the capsule.

The uncrewed journey also proved that the spacecraft's advanced thermal control system was able to effectively manage extreme temperature variations from the frigid upper atmosphere to exposure to intense solar heating, ensuring a comfortable environment inside the capsule for travelers.

Equally importantly, the flight demonstrated the successful use of Space Perspective's SpaceBalloon technology and its hydrogen lift gas functioning, which allows the spacecraft to ascend to edge of space altitudes and descend safely. This, says Space Perspective, also proved the viability of using renewable lift gases for such flights.

But most of all, the flight showed that an alternative option for experiencing space, or at least the edge of space, can be made more widely available.

"This flight successfully demonstrated the extraordinary accessibility of Spaceship Neptune's spaceflight experience with its gentle ascent, descent and splashdown, a critical step in opening space up to more people than ever before possible” said Jane Poynter, founder of Space Perspective.

The price-tag to visit the edge of space 

So what’s the price-tag for this once-in-a-lifetime experience? The reality is that while the cost is indeed “more accessible,” it’s still not cheap.

A ticket on Spaceship Neptune costs $125,000. And according to Abramson, while that cost may seem high, entire families and groups of people traveling together, have been busy reserving their tickets.

“We don’t have any tickets that are single one-off tickets [that have been purchased],” says Abramson. “Every ticket that has been purchased has come in organically as groups of two, four, six or eight people.”

And while Abramson acknowledges that for some consumers, $125,000 is still a very pricey ticket and may be a stretch, he points out that it is also a’the cheapest ticket to space on the market.

And it seems, the public has fully grasped that message.

Abramson has spent a significant amount of time with future explorers who have purchased tickets for a Space Perspective journey. And while he admits that many of the individuals are affluent travelers, many others are simply individuals who happen to be pursuing a dream.

“We have a lot of people for whom this is their life dream and they want to go up and experience it in their lifetime,” observes Abramson. “And they're willing to come to us - as the most attainable ticket to space - and take that ride with us.”

Abramson says it's not all that unlike his own dream to one day have enough money to own a sprawling ranch in Montana: “That's what I would spend my life savings on. And for some people, this is legitimately their dream - to see the Earth from this view and to see it through these windows and experience it before they leave this Earth.”