So-Called ‘Space Balloon’ Completes Crucial Test Ahead of Tourist Flights

The dream, if you can call it that, of ballooning to not-quite-space, has gotten closer. Space Perspective, a company founded with the goal of floating people high in the Earth’s atmosphere in lavish style, announced a successful test run of their Neptune vehicle.

The startup launched the hydrogen-fueled craft from Florida’s Marine Spaceport Voyager on September 15, and spent four hours ascending into the stratosphere. Once there, the company said in a press release, it maintained cabin pressure and stability, before descending for a splashdown. The mission, dubbed Development Flight 2, marked the first time the actual Neptune capsule reached its maximum altitude. A previous test flight also reached the stratosphere but used a lighter mockup of the Neptune capsule.

“This flight successfully demonstrated the extraordinary accessibility of Spaceship Neptune’s spaceflight experience with its gentle ascent, descent and splashdown, a critical step in opening space up to more people than ever before possible,” said Space Perspective founder Jane Poynter in the press release. “Our advances in marine spaceport technology, spacecraft design, and flight safety are setting truly new standards for the future of space exploration.”

Despite the constant references to space, Neptune isn’t actually a spacecraft. During the test flight, Neptune reached a top altitude of about 100,000 feet (30,000 meters)—high enough to see the Earth’s curvature, and over twice as high as a commercial jet, but far below the 62 miles (100 kilometers) of the Kármán Line, the commonly agreed upon boundary where space begins.

Space Perspective has some competition for the dollars of near-space balloonists. In February 2023, Japanese firm Iwaya Giken revealed its own vehicle, which it claimed would allow tourists to visit the middle part of the Earth’s atmosphere. One major drawback of the not-quite-space balloon is the incredibly cramped conditions, for which customers would pay $180,000 to stuff themselves into for a several-hour trip.

Given that hefty price tag, a trip on Space Perspective’s Neptune seems like a total steal. Back in 2021, the company claimed the cost of a ticket on the balloon would come in at a relatively frugal $125,000, and according to their press release, that hasn’t changed. At the time, it was expected that Neptune would begin taking passengers up in 2024. That timeline has since shifted, with the company saying it plans to perform its first human flights in 2025, with commercial operations to begin the year after.

The Neptune option isn’t just cheaper; concept art for the balloon reveals panoramic windows, a decked out interior, climate-controlled cabin, wi-fi, and martinis (because if you’re going to wonder at the majesty of space, and fragility of the human condition, you may as well tie one on).

Oh, and lest we forget, there’s a luxury toilet, too, which one staffer touted as an opportune place for the “ultimate kind of selfie experience.” If a decadent pooping experience isn’t on your list of musts, the budget option appears to be a company called World View, which announced in 2021 that it would begin operating balloon flights in early 2024 at $50,000 a pop. The company has not met that deadline and it’s not clear when commercial operations will begin.

All options are way easier on the wallet than rocket-based space tourism trips, which can run well into the tens of millions of dollars. So far, Space Perspective said over 1,800 tickets have been sold. Let’s be honest, it’s not the dumbest thrill ride that rich people have blown money on.