Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson may be making headlines with their space race, but there’s another company with a game-changing offer that will make seeing Earth from space as accessible as stepping on an aeroplane, and that is Space Perspective.
Today, Space Perspective, the world’s first luxury spaceflight experience company, announced reservations are now open for travel adventurers looking to upgrade their bucket list by booking a spot on a series of six-hour, history-making flights to space, set to take off as soon as Q4 2024 and with tickets priced at $125,000 each.
Additionally, on Friday, June 18, the company successfully completed their inaugural test flight of Neptune One from the Space Coast Air and Spaceport, becoming the first space launch operator to fly from the Space Coast Spaceport. During the historic six-hour and 39-minute test flight, cameras on board the capsule captured a dazzling image of Earth at sunrise, showcasing the unrivalled experience as well as the unprecedented views that customers will enjoy during their journey with Space Perspective.
Founders and Co-CEOs of Space Perspective Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum are on a mission to make the transformational journey to space safer and more inclusive and are taking their perspective global.
The couple has been responsible for some of the most remarkable breakthroughs in space innovation and exploration in the last 20 years:
- They were founding crew members of Biosphere 2, an artificial, enclosed ecosystem designed to mirror Earth’s biosphere to test the viability of maintaining human life in outer space.
- Founders of Paragon Space Development Corporation: the Human Life Support Systems Company perfected technologies seen on most human spacecraft, including the International Space Station and acted as technical advisors to Elon Musk on human spaceflight before SpaceX was a reality.
- They led team StratEx (Stratospheric Exploration) that invented a self-contained spacesuit and recovery program that could allow human exploration of the stratosphere at 100,000 ft and saw Alan Eustace, a senior Google engineer, set the world record for human spaceflight propelled by a space balloon at 136,000 ft — breaking previous world records in 2014, and a record which remains unchallenged today.
- Most recently, the couple were behind the Silicon Valley-backed stratosphere balloon technology company World View Enterprises with its revolutionary uncrewed Stratollite for communications and remote sensing.
Space Perspective heralds a new era in luxury travel experiences by reimaging the thrill of space exploration with the world’s most comfortable and gentle voyage to space.
Travellers will enjoy a six-hour journey onboard Spaceship Neptune, a capsule that is propelled at a leisurely 12 mph by a high-performance, state-of-the-art space balloon the size of a football field.
Spaceship Neptune offers hours of constantly changing, dazzling views. Our atmosphere stretches for hundreds of miles into space, Spaceship Neptune flies above 99% of it, and the perspective of looking down through atmospheric layers, framed by the thin blue line, is — according to most astronauts who have experienced it — profoundly life-changing.
Once the capsule reaches the gliding altitude of 100,000 feet, it will float there for two hours so travellers can soak in, capture, and share live the mind-blowing 360-degree views of planet Earth (up to 450 miles in every direction). No advance training, special clothing or equipment is required, and since the capsule is pressurized, travellers can recline in their seats, walk around and get a drink and some food.
This radical approach to luxury space travel is also mindful of the environment, including zero-emission spaceflight. Space Perspective addresses the increased demand for more sustainable travel and experiences for both the affluent and those seeking to invest in a once-in-a-lifetime trip.
The draw of more accessible space travel is big business. According to commissioned reports by leading international management consultancy firms, the total addressable market is worth $250 to $700 billion.
Each Space Perspective capsule will entertain up to eight guests and be accompanied by a pilot, with a co-pilot on the ground. Cultivating group or solo experiences to space potentially mark extraordinary events with a setting to match: couples might well get hitched with a small circle of family, introducing a whole new dimension on nuptials.
Others may relish the opportunity to celebrate a milestone birthday or even choose to take the company get together to new heights. Space Perspective is currently developing an end-to-end bespoke journey to ensure every moment of every trip is special, personalized, and comfortable.
Space Perspective will also be the first-of-its-kind space laboratory, able to repeatedly test and capture data from a part of Earth’s atmosphere which to date has been little researched, paving the way for more scientific and creative breakthroughs. Eager to act as change agents and propel research in climate and atmospheric science, Astro and solar physics — Spaceship Neptune will enable Explorers to participate in research as part of their own experience.
Travelling where few have gone before in an entirely accessible format, Space Perspective is raising the bar in space travel and out-of-this-world luxury experiences. Please visit www.spaceperspective.com to reserve your seat on Spaceship Neptune.
Read about more amazing places to travel in our dedicated section here.