US startup plans to take tourists on balloon trips to ‘edge of space’

Team Udayavani, Jul 5, 2020, 1:00 PM IST

A US-based startup is planning to use a balloon-borne pressurized capsule to fly customers 1,00,000 feet high from the Earth’s surface to the “edge of space”

The startup named Space  Perspective founded by Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum uses a high-altitude balloon, which can hold up to eight passengers for a six-hour trip at an anticipated price of around $125,000 per person.

The plan is called “Spaceship Neptune” capsules to host both tourists and research payloads, with a cruising height of around 100,000 feet

Space Perspective has scheduled the uncrewed test flight of its “Spaceship Neptune” for early 2021.

It would take space tourists on a six-hour journey, with facilities like an on-board refreshment bar.