A newcomer to the space tourism industry, Space Perspective, promises a view of the spherical Earth's curvature from the luxury cabin of a space balloon.
Space Perspective recently showcased the appearance of the luxury cabin to attract more tourists. The Space Perspective spacewalk is targeted to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United States from the end of 2024.
So far, as quoted from Phys.org, Wednesday (13/4/2022) more than 600 tickets have been sold. Each ticket is priced at USD 125,000 or around Ro 1.7 billion if converted into rupiah.
The Space Perspective's luxurious space balloon view features 1.5-metre-high windows and deep seating. The dominance of dark colors, purple, and dim lighting, makes the atmosphere contrast with the space tourism vehicles of its competitors, which are dominated by white.
This cabin is equipped with WiFi connectivity and a drink bar. When launched later, the space balloon will reach a height of 30 kilometers, far lower than rivals Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin.
"We're above 99 percent of Earth's atmosphere," said Space Perspective co-founder Jayne Poynter. This means that, even lower than Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, the height of the space balloon remains significantly higher than that of a commercial aircraft and means passengers will actually see pitch black space.
Space Perspective also claims its company as an alternative to rocket fuel that is more environmentally friendly and without emissions. They intend to fill their hot air balloon using hydrogen from renewable sources rather than extracting it from fossil fuels.
The price of USD 125,000 for a two-hour space trip and two hours back to Earth that ends with landing in sea water, is significantly cheaper than Virgin Galactic's ticket which is priced at USD 450 thousand.
Blue Origin did not reveal the price of the tours they offer, but so far Blue Origin is considered much more expensive. While the four businessmen who flew to the International Space Station on a SpaceX ship, each paid USD 55 million for Axiom Space, and this price was a privilege for the four people.
"We wanted to find a way to really change the way people think about spaceflight that makes it more approachable and accessible," said Poynter.
Space Perspective plans to make 25 space balloon flights in its first year of launching its space tourism service. One thing that passengers will not experience is a moment of weightlessness.
This is in contrast to the Virgin spacecraft and Blue Origin rockets, where passengers can release their seat belts and float when the force of gravity dissipates.