Space trip on bucket list? Travel in a balloon pod 32 km above earth for ₹1 cr

After limited but widely publicised space tourism trials by famed personalities and business tycoons, the industry is blooming with rapid development and newer opportunities. A new entrant to this space tourism sector, promises to offer space travel in its newly revealed balloon pod at a comparatively economical price. Florida-based space tourism firm Space Perspective,on Wednesday tweeted the creative impressions of a new capsule design for its Spaceship Neptune.

The luxury pod will lift 8 passengers to a space round-trip of 6 hours, reaching an altitude of about 32 km. It expects launching the space travel as early as late 2024. In a tweet, it informed that the pod is already in production at its Florida space coast campus. However, tourists have to wait for some more years before they fly on the adventurous journey. All the tickets for the first year are already sold out. “The first flights scheduled for 2024 have sold out”, displays the ticket booking portal of the firm.

The cost and the offerings

The cost for one passenger is set by the firm at $125,000, which roughly amounts to Rs. 1 crore, said to be considerably less than its counterparts like Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and Space X.

Passengers will enjoy cocktails in space as the ‘space lounge’ provides in-house bar. There will be constant connectivity with friends down on Earth thanks to its Wi-Fi service.

There will be nine reclining seats for eight Space Explorers and a pilot. One can plan their wedding on the space pod because it can be customised to accommodate any such special events.

It has 360-degree panoramic windows, each 0.56 meters wide x 1.54 meters high, the largest flown to space, claims the firm's website.

The space travel can also be used for research explorations. The Space lounge has ‘accommodations for scientific instruments supporting research project’.

Here it offers a unique experience than the others competitors, their tourist won’t feel jerk of the rocket because of the balloons lifting at an unruffled speed of 19 km/h . “Spaceship Neptune’s capsule remains secured to the SpaceBalloon for the entire flight from liftoff to splashdown, creating a seamlessly safe and gentle flight”, the website noted.

The Carbon neutral journey !

The firm boasts of nature friendly design of its space ship, having nominal environmental impact. Its SpaceBalloon is prepared from polyethylene, “recycled after each flight, and upcycled wherever possible”. Citing the example of Capsule’s lounge, which it claims to have been made from decommissioned SpaceBalloon, the official website says that it designs spaceship such that it can be re-flown. It will not use rocket fuel and will fly by using the buoyancy effect created by releasing lighter gas from space balloon. The firm asserts of net zero emissions in the exploration and calls itself the world’s only carbon-neutral spaceship.

Is it truly space travel?

A British tabloid- The Sun, while reporting the launch, wrote that it is a matter of debate if it can be dubbed as space flight. “The balloon reaches an altitude of 20 miles (30 km), much lower than rivals Virgin Galactic, which goes just over 50 miles high, or Blue Origin, which breaches the Karman Line, 62 miles above sea level, the internationally-recognised space border. SpaceX Crew Dragons fly even deeper into space,” it reported. It further added that the passengers won’t feel weightlessness because the vessel is not orbiting the Earth.