American Company Plans to Launch Balloon System – Passenger Capsule to Altitudes of at Least 30,000 Meters to Admire the Curvature of the Earth.
World View Enterprises, an American company specializing in near-space technology and exploration, will offer commercial flights to the stratosphere using a balloon-capsule system in 2024, according to a report by Business Insider on October 5. Each flight will last approximately 6 to 12 hours with a ticket price of $50,000 per seat. Tickets for the flights are already on sale, and so far, 250 people have made reservations.
Balloon carrying passenger capsule to the stratosphere. (Photo: World View Enterprises).
Passengers will ascend to an altitude of at least 30,000 meters to witness the curvature of the Earth against the backdrop of deep space. They will sit in the Explorer Capsule, a pressurized cabin lifted by a helium balloon nearly the size of a football field. Each flight is expected to carry 8 passengers and two crew members.
World View Enterprises plans to launch 3,000 balloons each year. The capsules will be reusable, but the balloons will be used only once, after which they will be recycled into products that can benefit residents near the launch site. Upon returning to the ground, a GPS-guided parachute will direct the capsule to a precise landing location.
The flights to the near-space region by World View Enterprises will be very comfortable and luxurious. The Explorer Capsule is equipped with cameras to capture the entire journey. The cabin also features telescopes for passengers to better observe the scenery below as well as the stars above. Additionally, the capsule will have Wi-Fi, a bar, and various dining options. According to World View Enterprises, the Explorer Capsule can accommodate passengers of all ages and physical conditions.
This is the second time World View Enterprises has planned a flight to the near-space region. The company’s first plan was to launch a similar balloon-capsule system named Voyager in 2016, which would take passengers to the stratosphere. However, this did not come to fruition.
In 2019, two of the co-founders of World View Enterprises, Taber MacCallum and Jane Poynter, established a competing company called Space Perspective to provide space tourism services with the balloon-capsule system named Spaceship Neptune. This system is expected to launch in 2024 with ticket prices of $125,000 per seat.
