Founded in 2019, Space Perspective plans to send tourists to the edge of Earth’s upper atmosphere in a capsule propelled by a high-altitude balloon the size of the Statue of Liberty.
Space Perspective says its views will be similar to those of passengers on Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, which also have plans to send paying customers into space. However, there are differences. For example, Space Perspective passengers won’t experience G-Force, gravity or rocket propulsion, and the plane reaches a lower altitude than its competitors.
“We are passionate about fundamentally changing the way people access space – both to conduct much-needed research to benefit life on Earth and to change the way we view and connect with our planet.” influence,” says founder and CEO Jane Poynter.
“Today it is more important than ever to see Earth as an interconnected planet, a spaceship for all humanity and our global biosphere. This expansive view of our world is the life-transforming perspective astronauts talk about when they see Earth in space. This is the space perspective.”
How does Space Perspective compare to Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic? Let’s see.
How long does the journey take?
Space Perspective passengers arrive at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, receive a safety briefing and tour of the facilities, then prepare for a six-hour space flight. The capsule rises at night, allowing passengers to experience the darkness of space, before the sun rises, allowing those on board to witness the curvature of the Earth and the thin blue line of the atmosphere. Virgin Galactic’s space flight lasts about 90 minutes to two hours, while Blue Origin’s rocket experience is much shorter: about 11 minutes.
Pronunciation: After six hours you get a lot more bang for your buck (and by that we mean life-affirming views from the edge of space).
How much is it?
On the subject of money. To secure your place on a Space Perspective flight, you must pay a refundable deposit of $1,000 (£793). The total price is $125,000 per passenger (£99,031). By comparison, tickets for a seat on Virgin Galactic cost $450,000 (£356,000). It is predicted that a seat on a suborbital Blue Origin flight will cost anywhere between $300,000 (£237,000) and $400,000 (£316,000).
Pronunciation: Space Perspective is certainly a more cost-effective way to tickle the edge of Earth’s atmosphere.
How is it in the cabin?
You’ll sit in the cabin (called Neptune) with eight other passengers, plus a pilot, which means you have the option to block off the entire capsule for special occasions if you have a million dollars to spare. Space Perspective’s unique selling point is that the ‘space lounge’ – 4.5 meters in diameter – provides space for passengers to stand up and move around. Crucially, there is a fully stocked bar and culinary experience on board. Space Perspective also has onboard music, high-speed WiFi and video cameras that film the entire journey. Oh, and there’s also a toilet with a view. Both the Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin cabins have more of a spaceship atmosphere and certainly do not have a bar or toilet.
Pronunciation: Space Perspective is definitely the winner here. The cabin has a fully stocked bar at the edge of the room, which is for crying out loud. However, the presence of WiFi is a negative point. If you ever wanted to take a six-hour break from Gary Lineker’s tweets, it should probably be here.
Is there weightlessness?
No. Because there is no free fall, but because the ship travels at a leisurely speed of 20 km/h, you will experience old-fashioned gravity during your Space Perspective flight. Both Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin offer zero gravity for a few minutes. There’s some debate on social media about whether Space Perspective can accurately describe its journey as entering “space” given its maximum height, but we won’t go into that here.
Pronunciation: It depends on what you’re into, but if you’re spending your savings on traveling to space (or close to it), maybe you’ll want to at least float around a little?
What will I be able to see?
Space Perspective reaches its highest point at an altitude of 30 kilometers and stays there for two hours. At this altitude you can see 450 miles in every direction – roughly all of Florida. Note that the windows on Space Perspective are “the largest ever flown into space,” allowing for a nearly 360-degree panoramic view of Earth. By comparison, Virgin Galactic reaches an altitude of 88 km (290,000 ft), and a Blue Origin test flight reached an altitude of 100 km (330,000 ft), crossing the Kármán line, the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and the suborbital space. Virgin Galactic has porthole-sized windows, and Blue Origin’s capsule has slightly larger rectangular windows.
Pronunciation? Space Perspective goes high, about three times the height of an average commercial flight, but not nearly as high as Virgin Galactic or Blue Origin. So the views just won’t be that impressive. But the windows are bigger, and that’s something. And don’t forget the bar.
Is it energy efficient?
Space Perspective will certainly be more energy efficient than the efforts of Virgin Atlantic and Blue Origin. Because Space Perspective doesn’t require rocket fuel and instead relies on a hydrogen-fueled balloon larger than the Statue of Liberty that “floats, like an ice cube floating on water,” it claims it operates with almost no emissions. However, the SpaceBalloon can only be used once and is recycled after each flight, and its activities still produce carbon emissions, which are offset, according to Space Perspective.
Pronunciation: Any way you look at it, Space Perspective has a smaller carbon footprint than Branson and Bezos’ projects.
Is it safe?
NASA and other research institutions around the world have been using similar balloons since the 1950s, with Space Perspective saying the core technology has “been flown safely to over 30,000 feet more than a thousand times” and is “inherently safe.” They also say it can’t pop. “In the unlikely event that there is a hole in the balloon envelope, it will descend very slowly and float to a safe landing,” they say. Describing the use of hydrogen as a fuel instead of helium, Space Perspective says: “Hydrogen has been shown to be a safe gas for use in balloons; in fact, thousands of human-manned hydrogen balloons have flown since flight began in the 18th century. without a single recorded flying incident attributed to hydrogen.” Both Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin have also launched successful space flights with their respective CEOs on board.
Pronunciation: By the time you get on board they will all have impeccable health and safety records, but taking off in a balloon with Space Perspective carries less risk than boarding something launched to higher altitudes by a rocket.
What happens when it lands?
Space Perspective describes the landing as a “gentle ocean splashdown.” The capsule will then be “quickly lifted out of the sea and placed on the ship’s deck, where explorers will disembark and celebrate their return.” Blue Origin’s rocket shuttle takes off vertically and then lands vertically. Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane lands like an airplane on a runway.
Pronunciation: Splashdown sounds a little nerve-wracking, right? The option of landing on a runway like an airplane with Virgin Galactic is probably the most palatable for nervous flyers.
Will it actually happen?
Space Perspective says it plans to conduct test flights in the coming months, with plans to send the first paying customers into space in early 2025. Whether it meets that date will of course depend on the outcome of the test flights. Virgin Galactic successfully sent paying passengers into space in August 2023 after Branson boarded a first fully crewed flight in 2021 after years of delays. Blue Origin flew its first suborbital spaceflight in July 2021. Neither operates regular passenger service to space yet.
Pronunciation: Watch this space.