Space Perspective plans to send tourists on space balloon cruises. Technically, it will not be the space, but the upper layers of the stratosphere, but future customers are promised an unforgettable six-hour journey with a view of the round Earth.
The American company announced that in the near future it will begin test flights of the 'Spaceship Neptune' tourist spacecraft - a giant balloon with a special capsule designed for 8 passengers and a pilot. It will have 9 compartments, a minibar, a comfortable bathroom and huge panoramic windows through which passengers can enjoy views of the Earth. A two-hundred-meter balloon filled with hydrogen will rise to a height of 3 km and stay there for two hours, then it will hover over the Earth for another two hours, and another two hours will take for descent.
An unmanned flight will take place at the beginning of 2021, then, with a crew - in 2023, the tests will be completed by 2024. By the end of this decade, Space Perspective expects to make 500 flights a year.
Tickets for the cruise will cost $125 thousand. It is already possible to book a place on the company's website. Of course, the sum is rather big, but it is about half the amount that you will have to pay for a flight on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo suborbital space plane, which is expected to begin commercial operation soon.
Balloon launches will be held at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At the time of returning to Earth, the capsule with tourists should be splashed in the Atlantic Ocean. All flights will be controlled by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
