A company wants to use an advanced balloon to take customers from the Earth’s surface in Alaska to the highest levels of the planet’s atmosphere.
Florida-based startup firm Space Perspective plans to use the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak to serve as one of the vehicle’s launch sites, called the Spaceship Neptune, The Anchorage Daily News reported Sunday.
The balloon rides will be manned by a flight crew that will take eight passengers in a pressurized capsule suspended below a hydrogen balloon the size of a soccer stadium.
Each passenger could pay an estimated $ 125,000 for a six-hour trip.
Mark Lester, CEO of Alaska Aerospace Corp., said high-altitude transfers will be available from Kodiak in a few years and will support Alaska tourism.
“There will be people from all over the world who want to come to Alaska and see the Northern Lights from the edge of space,” said Lester.
Alaska Aerospace and Space Perspective will test and refine space port operations and secure space flight licenses from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Space Perspective plans to complete an unmanned test flight from the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida next year.
Passengers will begin with a two-hour climb approximately 19 miles (31 kilometers) above Earth. Then they can post on the social networks about the experience or send data.
“Neptune then makes a two-hour descent below the balloon and splashes where a ship retrieves passengers,” along with the capsule and balloon, Alaska Aerospace said.
Recovery of the capsule would occur in the waters around Kodiak Island and the Aleutian Island chain, depending on seasonal wind patterns.
The design of the balloon is derived from technology that NASA has used for decades to fly large research telescopes, Space Perspective said.
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