Orlando—Balloons the size of a football field that aim to take tourists up to the edge of space as soon as next year will be constructed at a new facility on the Space Coast.
State and local government officials along with leadership with the company Space Perspective were on hand this week at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a 49,000-square foot facility called the Seely SpaceBalloon Factory in Titusville.
“Today marks a significant and exciting milestone for Space Perspective and the entire commercial space industry,” company founder and Co-CEO Jane Poynter said at the Tuesday event. “We are leveraging balloon technology used for generations to create our carbon-neutral spaceflight experience.”
The balloons are designed to take up the Spaceship Neptune pressurized capsule, which promises to transport eight travelers along with a flight captain for a six-hour trip up to 100,000 feet altitude. That’s about 19 miles above the Earth, a vantage point that will give travelers a view of the curvature of the planet and the blackness of space.
Flights are planned to launch from the company’s ship MS Voyager based at Port Canaveral, but mission control will be located at Brevard County’s Space Coast Regional Airport, which is also the location of the new balloon factory, named for polymer scientist and balloon innovator Loren G. Seely.
“Balloons have been safely flown to space more than a thousand times by NASA, other entities, and our own team members—including with payloads heavier than our Spaceship Neptune capsule,” Poynter said. “We are truly building on the work of giants.”
“Space Perspective’s decision to build and launch from Florida is yet another example of our strong reputation as the global gateway to space, opening new doors for our state and regional workforce across the supply chain and expanding the industry to new sectors,” said Frank DiBello, president and CEO of Space Florida, the state’s aerospace finance and development agency.
The workforce of 23 at the facility looks to produce one space balloon a week. Space Perspective, which has headquarters near Kennedy Space Center and manufacturing operations in Titusville and Melbourne, employs 130 people overall. The company has not announced the dollar value of the new infrastructure.
It’s the second Space Coast infrastructure announcement in two months following the revelation that Amazon was behind the planned 100,000-square-foot satellite processing facility at the nearby Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center.
Balloon travel looks to compete with the likes of Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, both of which offer rocket-powered, intense but short-lived trips up to the edge of space for a few minutes of weightlessness. Space Perspective touts its accessibility, length of trip, and a much lower price point at $125,000 per person.
The company announced in July it had already booked 1,600 passengers for future flights, which is more than $200 million in sales, although customers only have put down a $1,000 deposit to secure a flight.
Its first commercial flight is planned before the end of 2024 and future flights are now booked as far as three years out, the company stated.
Blue Origin, which is currently grounded, did not announce how much its flights on the New Shepard rockets costs, but Virgin Galactic flight costs have risen to $450,000 per passenger. That company just had its first paying customer flight last month.
“We’re extremely proud of the momentum and support behind our growing explorer community as we pursue our mission to open up space to as many people as possible,” said Poynter last month. “We know that looking down on Earth from the blackness of space will radically shift one’s perception of our planet and our place within it. And this experience has the power to change the world for the better.”
Many of the flights are for full eight-person parties. The pressurized capsule is designed to be like a high-end hotel room with a view. The trip includes meals, cocktail service, Wi-Fi, and a bathroom.
Travelers require no training, and won’t experience weightlessness or heavy g-forces. Flights will still be regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration and follow guidelines set by NASA and the U.S. Coast Guard for flight and recovery.
Initial trips will feature a two-hour climb, then a two-hour trip across the state and a two-hour descent into the Gulf of Mexico where recovery vessels will be waiting. The company hopes to expand its balloon flights to other global destinations, though.
The company performed an uncrewed test flight in 2021 reaching an altitude of 108,409 feet. The company now plans its first crewed test flight in 2024 before it begins commercial operations, aiming to pilot 25 flights in that first year.
Copyright 2023 Orlando Sentinel. Visit at orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
