World View showcase their virtual space tourism
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The Arizona-based World View Enterprises has joined the growing ranks of companies set to give tourists a taste of space. Launching off the back of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin’s first crewed flights this summer, the company will offer a thrilling though very different experience. The company, which formed a decade ago, says it will fly paying customers in rocketless balloons up into the stratosphere, the second layer of the atmosphere.
The flights will carry people up to an altitude of about 100,000ft or 18 miles (29km), which at first glance is a far cry from what the company’s competitors offer.
There is no international agreement over where the Earth ends and space begins, but the majority of the world thinks the border of space is about 62 miles (100km) up.
This is the so-called Karman Line, named after Hungarian-American physicist Theodore von Karman.
Blue Origin is presently the only company to offer brief flights above the line, soaring to about 66 miles high (106km).
There are exceptions to the rule, such as NASA and the US Air Force, which consider space to begin just 50 miles up (80km).
By this standard, customers on Virgin Galactic’s jaunts aboard the VSS Unity spaceplane get to earn their astronaut wings.
World View Enterprises is, however, confident its rocketless journeys will be spectacular enough in its own right.
From an altitude of 18 miles (29km), the company said customers will have a chance to see the planet’s curvature and experience the darkness of space.
CEO Ryan Hartman said his company wants to “change the conversation around space tourism”.
He added: “We’re redefining space tourism for participants by spending hours at apogee, building memories around some of Earth’s most magnificent wonders.”
But the experience won’t come cheap with seats on the company’s balloons expected to go for £36,700 ($50,000).
Each ride will last between six and eight hours, though the company will also offer journeys that will last days.
For comparison, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic fly higher but only spend a couple of minutes in true the microgravity of space.
On Monday, the company opened up its pre-sale to the general public, allowing customers to secure a ticket for a £368 ($500) deposit.
The first flight is pencilled in for 2024 and will launch from the Spaceport Grand Canyon, which is yet to be built.
At present, the company’s stratospheric balloons are launched from its spaceport in Tuscon, Arizona.
Additional flights will launch from spaceports built around the world’s natural wonders, including the Great Barrier Reef.
The company’s capsule will slowly fly into the stratosphere at speeds between 10 and 12mph, allowing for a gentle trip into the sky.
Each capsule will carry up to eight passengers, though their final design has not yet been set in stone.
One the way down, the capsule will use a parasail for a smooth glide and landing back on solid ground.
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