Start-up sells 1,000 tickets for balloon trips near the edge of space
Reported by Tereza Pultarova
The World View space capsule ascending into Earth’s stratosphere in an artist rendering of the technology
A space balloon start-up which plans to fly paying customers to the edge of space as early as 2024 has signed up its 1,000th customer, making it the most sought-after space tourism operator in the world. The Arizona-based World View sells rides on its space balloons for $50,000 per seat, about one-ninth the price of a spaceflight ticket with Virgin Galactic. Relying on heliumfilled balloons, World View won’t deliver the full space tourism experience with weightlessness, but its customers will see planet Earth from 23 miles (37 kilometres) above, almost three times higher than the cruising altitude of a passenger jet. At this altitude, you can observe the curvature of Earth as well as the star-studded blackness of the sky. The experience is more of a slow-burn six to eight hours compared to the adrenalin-filled rocket-powered flights offered by Virgin Galactic or Blue Origin.