Aug 21, 20223 min read

This One Company Is Revolutionizing Space Vacations

Updated: Oct 1, 2022

Photo Credits: By PIRO4D on Pixabay

Space Vacation

Let's be honest, space vacations sound interesting at glance. I am a huge advocate for advancements in technology, but only when done with caution. This article was thought about after watching Netflix's, "Future Of" series. In one particular episode, the idea of space vacations are bought up. The companies leading this dream vacation are Virgin Galactic, Space X, Blue Origin and Orion Span. Companies like the ones mentioned offer space travel to normal people(non-astronauts and the wealthy). Unfortunately, not everyone will get their hands on tickets to travel to space, but there is one company that is allowing a more affordable price to pay.

The company allowing for space vacations at a reasonable price is called, "Space Perspective". Founder and CEO Jane Poynter envisions an experience that will allow the regular civilian to enjoy luxury space tourism. Unlike the rugged takeoff of a rocket, this travel will involve a ballon that takes the individuals up into space. The ballon will alleviate the extreme astronaut training and strain on the body when launching in a rocket. There will be no training required and very little turbulence the tourist will have to experience. The balloon is expected to raise tourists up to 100,000 feet and have a travel time of 6 hours. The ballon has luxurious seating, Wi-Fi and 360 visibility. The most interesting feature of the ballon is that it will rise above 99% of Earth's atmosphere and have a lift off like this:

Photo Credits: https://spaceperspective.com/experience

The first launch is expected to take place in 2024 at a very reasonable price of $125,000 per guest. This price is a great discount from Virgin Galactic's $450,000 ticket price.

By the pricing, we can see that space vacations are expensive. So is the fuel, maintenance and travel for these balloons or rockets.....potentially. It is an estimated 1.4 million dollars to fuel rockets that launch to space. Currently, scientists are working on a more fuel efficient way of travel and the idea of recycling the rockets usage. Space Perspective combats the whole fuel economy issue by producing the first carbon-neutral way to travel.

Fear of Space Debris

This sounds great and all for Space Perspective, but I would like to express the most scary part of space tourism for other potential space voyage companies. Like any tourists attractions, there comes litterbugs and trash that damage natural habitats. I know many people see space as an infinite world of pitch-black, but this is no place to leave trash. With more and more launches expected for pure amusement comes the possibility of adding onto the space debris we have already. In 2019 a computer-generated image estimates there are more that 128 million pieces of debris that are no larger than 1cm. This statistic scares me since we will be joining a new realm of travel into a new realm of space(literally).

Photo Credits: By WikiImages on Pixabay

It is painful that space debris will be an issue when we have yet to settle the damage that we are doing to our own Earth. It is hard to imagine taking care of the sub-orbital or the out of orbit portions of space. It is not all pessimistic; I am confident in the advancements that we make, but we must be cautious.

Which Space Vacation I Recommend?

In my personal opinion, Space Perspective looks like they are the most safe way to travel space. Aside from fuel cost, potential space debris and space pollution, Space Perspective combats this with the ballon technology. Though this is all promising, we must wait and see how everything plays out with the race to space.