Commercial spaceflight is becoming increasingly common, with companies including SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic sending paying customers into space over the past few years.
People interested in observing Earth from an unusual vantage point may soon have another option. CNBC spoke with three startups — France-based Zephalto, Florida-based Space Perspective and Arizona-based World View — that aim to use pressurized cabins and giant inflatable balloons to Tourists are lifted into the stratosphere.
“The capsule itself is designed to carry eight passengers and two crew members into the stratosphere,” said World View CEO Ryan Hartman. “There will be a central bar for people to gather and then, of course, there will be a bar on the capsule bathroom.”
The hot air balloon ride will last approximately 6 hours but will not Taking passengers all the way to space. Most aircraft will reach an altitude of 15 to 19 miles above the Earth’s surface, flying in the stratosphere. The U.S. government generally believes that the starting point of space is about 80 kilometers (or about 50 miles) above the Earth’s surface.
Jane Poynter, founder and co-chief executive of Space Perspective, takes a different view.
“There is no universal definition of space,” Poynter said. “We are regulated as a spaceship. If we are above 98,000 feet, we are a spaceship. Outside the capsule, there is basically a vacuum. We are above 99 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere, which is why The sky was so dark and black.
The physical sensations passengers experience in stratospheric balloons are more akin to flying on an airplane than to rocket-powered space tourism. Passengers will not experience weightlessness.
“There are no physical requirements to board a hot air balloon,” said Vincent Farret d’Astiès, founder and chief pilot of Zephalto. “If you can board a standard airplane, you can board a hot air balloon.”
All three companies told CNBC they were pleased with consumer interest. World Views said it has sold 1,250 tickets so far, while Space Perspective has sold 1,800 tickets. Zephalto did not tell CNBC how many tickets it sold but said the initial flights were fully booked.
Ticket prices range from $50,000 per seat for World View to $184,000 per seat for Zephalto. Tickets for the Space Perspective experience are priced at $125,000 per seat. This all assumes commercial service has been launched.
So far, only Zephalto has conducted manned testing, but not at the company’s target altitude of about 15 miles above the Earth’s surface.
To learn more about this emerging market, watch the video.
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