Posts: 53840 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 06-18-2020 10:00 AM
Please use this topic to discuss Space Perspective and its Spaceship Neptune, a high-performance balloon and pressurized capsule.
thisismills Member
Posts: 577 From: Michigan Registered: Mar 2012
posted 06-18-2020 07:05 PM
Cost not set, reported to be targeted around $125,000 per seat at first.
SkyMan1958 Member
Posts: 1404 From: CA. Registered: Jan 2011
posted 06-18-2020 08:23 PM
I wish Space Perspective well.
Whatever happened to World View? I just looked at their webpage and they are listing unmanned balloon flights. From what I remember, for about 5 years they were planning on the same sort of high-altitude flights that Space Perspective is.
Needless to say, while 100,000 feet is above the vast majority of the atmosphere, it is nowhere near 328,000 feet for 100 km high. Of course, 6 hours is a lot better than the up and down hop of the New Shepard, or even the 2 hour (predominantly WhiteKnightTwo) flight of Virgin Galactic.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53840 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 06-18-2020 09:06 PM
World View found its market in the Stratolite, flying payloads instead of people. So Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum, who helped start World View, created Space Perspective to refocus on flying people.
The Space Perspective Neptune differs from the once-proposed World View Voyager in some key ways, including no longer replying on a steerable parasail to return to Earth. Instead of dropping away at altitude, the balloon is gradually deflated and Neptune slowly descends to a splashdown in the ocean. If it works, then it will be a smoother round trip.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53840 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 02-20-2024 10:05 PM
From Space Perspective:
Introducing our first completed test capsule, Spaceship Neptune — Excelsior. Its spherical capsule is 16 feet (4.9 meters) in diameter, providing a pressurized volume of more than 2,000 cubic feet (60 cubic meters) – roughly two times the volume of Virgin Galactic’s Spaceship Two and Blue Origin’s New Shepard, and about four times that of SpaceX's Crew Dragon.
The result of years of planning, design, development and manufacturing by our unparalleled team, and a testament to the relentless pursuit of innovation and collaboration that exists within the walls of our company, we humbly celebrate this milestone as we begin eyeing our test flights window. Uncrewed test flights pave the way for human test flights later this year. Data gathered during our upcoming flights will inform the build of a human-rated Spaceship Neptune capsule.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53840 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-19-2024 09:54 AM
From Space Perspective (via X):
With the successful first flight of Spaceship Neptune-Excelsior (and second overall uncrewed test demonstration) completed; we take a moment to reflect on the extraordinary accomplishments that have been completed.
In just a few short years, our world-class team of engineers has designed and built a SpaceBalloon, a fully operational, first-of-its-kind capsule that is supported by our reserve descent system, and retrofitted the first marine spaceport for human spaceflight, MS Voyager.
All of this has culminated in the recent launch of Excelsior, a capsule that will provide Explorers with a safe, gentle, and transformative ride to space. Our work continues to pioneer a new way to experience space travel. We are one step closer towards our mission of making space accessible to more humans than ever before.
GACspaceguy Member
Posts: 3143 From: Guyton, GA Registered: Jan 2006
posted 09-19-2024 09:54 AM
The flight on September 15 marks milestones in space tourism...
I guess they are not saying they actually enter space (100,000 feet, 30.5 km) but to the uneducated it sounds like they are in fact going into space. Don't get me wrong, I think it would be a great ride but not a "space" ride.
SpaceAholic Member
Posts: 5425 From: Sierra Vista, Arizona Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-19-2024 12:56 PM
The company makes a number of explicit claims in their advert video above that they provide a space travel experience. Misleading and they may be opening themselves up to competitor initiated false advertising claims.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53840 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-19-2024 01:16 PM
When I worked for Space Adventures, we marketed rides on the MiG-25 Foxbat as a space-travel experience without objection or problems.
Of course, the jet came no where close to entering space (and even flew lower than Space Perspective) but participants did experience a vertical climb to altitude and were subjected to increased and negative Gs, as well as saw the curvature of Earth and the blackness of space. For some of our clients, it fulfilled their desired for a spaceflight, without actually entering space.
I think of Space Perspective's offering much in the same way.
GACspaceguy Member
Posts: 3143 From: Guyton, GA Registered: Jan 2006
posted 09-19-2024 02:07 PM
OK it is a description rather than a destination. Like an amusement park "Space" roller coaster. Makes seance and sells seats.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53840 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-22-2025 02:41 PM
Space Perspective has reportedly been evicted from their buildings at Space Coast Regional Airport in Florida, Talk of Titusville reports.
Eviction of Space Perspective from their buildings at the Space Coast Regional Airport is imminent, as employees, and possibly founders Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum, were clearing out their offices over the weekend. ...
The company is reportedly facing eviction from its facility, which will take effect on Wednesday, Jan. 22. According to another former employee, there was no formal communication to staff about the impending eviction.
posted 06-18-2020 10:00 AM
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