Space Perspective’s Spaceflight Capsule Is Preparing For Liftoff In 2025
The windowed capsule is designed to showcase stunning views above Earth for up to eight passengers at a time.
“To infinity and beyond” takes on an entirely new meaning when seen through the lens of real-life space travel, or at least, that’s how Space Perspective and the new Excelsior spaceflight capsule plan to see the world.
Designs for another space capsule were revealed in 2022 by Space Perspective, and companies like Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezo’s Blue Origin also offer the promise of space flight (all for a very steep price, of course).
These days, there’s even whiskey set to be aged in outer space, pushing the boundaries of experimentation, travel and time (Christopher Nolan very well might be interested).
Space Perspective bills the recently completed Excelsior as the first carbon-neutral way for an Earth-bound consumer to travel through space.
The flight experience, which pairs the Excelsior capsule with Spaceship Neptune, calls the approach the “most accessible, most sustainable, and safest spacecraft on or above Planet Earth.”
The nine-person test capsule holds eight passengers and a pilot across a 16-foot pressurized cabin for a six-hour flight, all the while boasting 360-degree panoramic windows.
Space Perspective’s SpaceBalloon design uses renewable hydrogen to lift the Spaceship Neptune capsule up from the ground, rising at just 12 MPH rather than using rocket propulsion.
The experience within Spaceship Neptune is nothing to sneeze at, either: It features plush lounge chairs and an onboard bar, not to mention gourmet culinary offerings and other amenities.
And the prospect of interstellar travel (if only for about six hours at a time) has already led more than 1,700 passengers (or “Explorers,” as Space Perspective calls them) to reserve seats for a 2025 lift-off.
To return to the Earth’s surface, the capsule uses its own flight system rather than a more standard capsule detachment system.
Space Perspective notes that its balloon-driven approach is “proven technology, used for decades already by our team on missions with NASA and other government agencies to lift research telescopes and other heavy, sensitive instruments.”
And although the price tag for interstellar space travel is steep at $125,000, it’s already piqued the interest of hundreds upon hundreds: Going out of this world, if only for a time, is closer at hand than one might think.
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