(ORDO NEWS) — A Japanese startup announced on Tuesday plans to launch commercial space surveillance balloon flights.
The company’s CEO, Keisuke Iwaya, said passengers don’t have to be billionaires, undergo extensive training, or have the language skills needed to fly a rocket.
“It’s safe, economical and kind to people,” Iwaya told reporters. “The idea is to make space tourism accessible to everyone.”
Iwaya Giken, based in Sapporo in northern Japan, has been working on the project since 2012 and says it has developed a pressurized two-seat cabin and a hot air balloon capable of rising to a height of 25 kilometers, from where the Earth‘s curve can be clearly seen.
Although passengers will not be in outer space the balloon only rises to about the middle of the stratosphere they will be taller than a jet plane and will have an unobstructed view of outer space.
The company has teamed up with major Japanese travel agency JTB Corp., which has announced a future collaboration once Iwaya Gike is ready for commercial travel.
The flight may cost roughly $180,000 initially, but Iwaya said he intends to bring it down to a few tens of thousands of dollars eventually. He noted that his main goal is to make space more accessible.
The Iwaya Giken balloon will be lifted using helium, which can be largely reused, according to the company. The first trip is planned for the end of this year.
The balloon, which can carry a pilot and a passenger, will take off from the balloon port in Hokkaido, rise to a height of 25 kilometers for two hours and stay there for one hour before descending.
The drum-shaped plastic cabin has a diameter of 1.5 meters. It has several large windows that offer views of space and the earth, the company said.
Applications for the space viewing trip opened on Tuesday and will run until the end of August.
The first five selected passengers will be announced in October, with flights scheduled to operate at roughly weekly intervals, depending on the weather, the company said.
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