A balloon ride 30 km high: this is the space tourism proposal that arrives in 2024

Panoramic views have a unique appeal to people. There is something about being on top of a mountain, or at the top of a tower; in dominating a landscape, seeing a valley from above, the roofs of houses, the world as birds or clouds see it.

So it is not surprising that there are written down 600 people to make a four-hour trip, for which they will pay about 125,000 dollars each, and that consists, neither more nor less, than going up to the stratosphere in a balloon.

The Space Perspective firm seeks to offer a space tourism service in 2024, which consists of boarding a balloon that rises to the stratosphere, 30 km high. (Space Perspective/)

But it is not a rocket trip or an uncomfortable journey: on the contrary, the company’s proposal Space Perspective (Spatial Perspective, in English) is to do it in a luxurious way, and that brings to mind airship travel, such as the Graf Zeppelin that visited Buenos Aires in 1934.

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The name of the vehicle will rise to the skies in 2024 (if the project is not delayed) is the Neptunewhich according to the photos released by the company will allow 360-degree panoramic views, and which will go up to 30 kilometers high thanks to a gigantic balloon, on a trip that takes two hours to go and another two hours to return, so that the journey is as pleasant as possible, and passengers can enjoy the unusual view that is achieved from that height, much higher than which commercial aircraft travel.

In addition to armchairs, tables and a bar, the cabin will offer a telescope to be able to see the Earth’s surface from the very edge of the Earth’s atmosphere.

The Space Perspective firm seeks to offer a space tourism service in 2024, which consists of boarding a balloon that rises to the stratosphere, 30 km high. (Space Perspective/)

Space Perspective is not the only initiative that seeks to make the spacial tourism: Blue Origin (by Jeff Bezos) is already doing it with his New Shepard ship, which also goes up to the limit of the stratosphere (the so-called Karman line). While, Virgin Galactic (by Richard Branson) offered in the middle of last year the possibility of buying a round trip to space for $450,000, in a ship capable of suborbital flights. SpaceX (by Elon Musk), meanwhile, is betting for now on commercial flights to the International Space Station, like the one that took place last September.

All of them offer a brief and expensive, but very particular, alternative to a hot air balloon trip, a parachute descent, a glider flight or a more traditional vacation to the beach, the mountains or the south.

The Nation / Argentina / GDA.

Source: Elcomercio