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For the private space tourism sector, 2021 has been a fantastic year. Space travel, which was formerly reserved for superpowers like Russia and the United States, is now available to the superrich or anybody who can afford it, thanks to companies like Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.
After flying on Blue Origin's New Shepard in October, William Shatner became the oldest person to travel to space. Shatner, who played Captain Kirk, was the oldest person to travel to space and cross the Kármán line, which is over 328,000 feet above the Earth, at the age of 90. The "Star Trek" actor and three others traveled to the edge of space on the NS-18, the New Shepard mission, a tourist spaceship built by NASA.
We just wrote on Justin Sun, the founder of Tron and crypto pioneer, after he exposed himself as the mysterious bidder who paid $28 million in an auction for a seat aboard Blue Origin's first crewed trip in July. Those who cannot afford to spend millions of dollars on space flight can still enjoy the thrills of space travel with Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic; the voyage will cost $250,000.
If $250K is still out of reach, this startup might be able to provide you with an experience that isn't too expensive. If you've ever wanted to travel beyond the atmosphere, now might be the best moment to take a once-in-a-lifetime trip to enjoy a space perspective from 100,000 feet in Space Perspective's balloon-borne "Neptune" crew cabin.
Space Perspective is a new space travel company that plans to transport visitors on high-altitude balloon rides. Unlike Virgin Galactic, which costs $250,000 per person, Space Perspective aims to charge roughly $125,000 per passenger.
Spaceship Neptune, a balloon-borne pressurized capsule set to undertake its maiden test flights early next year, is transporting passengers and research payloads to the edge of space, according to the Florida-based business. Over 500 seats have been reserved so far, with 2024 spaceflights being sold out. While the firm is now based in Florida, the system might be deployed from a variety of locations throughout the world, including Hawaii and Alaska in the near future.
The firm launched its Neptune One test flight from the Space Coast Spaceport, which is next to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, on June 18th, 2021. The unmanned vehicle sailed the whole flight path over the Florida peninsula to a height of over 100,000 feet, which is similar to the altitude at which our Explorers would fly.
Despite the fact that passengers aboard the Spaceship Neptune will not experience weightlessness, firm founder and Co-CEO Taber MacCallums promises "options for citizen astronauts to experience this planet Earth from the edge of space, a privilege previously available to only a few."
The company has conducted significant international market research and developed a new design based on established technology dating back more than 50 years. Neptune, the spaceship, was built from the ground up for optimum safety, accessibility, near-zero emissions, and global operations. The pressurized capsule is comfortable and capacious, and the balloon is the length of a football stadium.
Neptune, piloted by a scientist, transports up to eight "Explorers" on a six-hour voyage to the edge of space and safely back, where only 20 humans have gone before. It will take people and research payloads on a two-hour gentle ascent over 99 percent of the Earth's atmosphere to 100,000 feet, where it will cruise for up to two hours above the Earth, letting passengers to share their experience with their fellow Explorers via social media. Neptune then starts a two-hour fall beneath the balloon and splashes down, where the passengers, capsule, and balloon are retrieved by a ship. The FAA Office of Commercial Spaceflight regulates Neptune's commercial human spaceflight launches.
"People have never been more enthused about space travel than after the return of human spaceflight from U.S. land just a few weeks ago," said Founder and Co-CEO Taber MacCallum.
"Few efforts are more meaningful than allowing people to see the amazing perspective of our home planet in space for the sake of all, and that is what Space Perspective is doing."
The amazing, safe suborbital voyage via space balloon offered by Space Perspective will take you to the edge of space. Take in the curvature of our beautiful world against the blackness of space while softly gliding above the Earth's vivid colors in the innovative, near-zero-emissions Neptune capsule.
