Space Perspective, the Florida company that promises to take “space travel to a new level” with its carbon neutral balloon-lifted trips to space, has completed construction of the world’s largest spaceflight test capsule.
Largest space travel capsule
The Excelsior is set to become the largest spaceflight test capsule to carry humans. At 4.8 metres in diameter (16 feet), its 57 cubic metre (2000+ cubic feet) of pressurized volume is twice the volume of Virgin Galactic’s Spaceship Two and Blue Origin’s New Shepard, and about four times that of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.
It will be able to carry up to eight passengers alongside a captain, and it will itself be carried by at a steady rate of around 19km/h (12mph) by a SpaceBalloon for the entire spaceflight – powered by renewable hydrogen. The craft as a whole is known as Spaceship Neptune.
The entire thing’s design, carbon composite manufacturing, processing and testing, systems creation and integration are all undertaken by Space Perspective, whose founders met inside the Biosphere 2 dome. The team have experience from projects with Blue Origin, Boeing, NASA, Space X, Virgin Galactic, as well as the US Navy.
Luxury space spa
But this spaceflight is no military experience. It features a luxurious space lounge with scenic, vertical, wavelength-resisting windows and a gourmet food and beverage offering, custom headphones and Wi-Fi. Flyers (or “Explorers” as Space Perspective styles its passengers) can also enjoy a “space spa” in the form of a caspule spa restroom. Here, atmospheric music and lighting will help these Explorers feel like they’re at “a retreat,” or a “capsule spa” and not in an airplane loo, according to Lead Designers Dan Window and Isabella Trani, who have chosen colours and shapes so that ensure “Explorers will find this environment cocooning and comforting”.
Also comforting perhaps, is one of the company’s big selling points: its claim of carbon neutrality, boasting what it says are near-zero emissions, efficient recycling and minimal offsetting.
Final preparations
With commercial travel targeted for 2025, and more than 1,750 tickets sold already at a price of $125,000 (around 115,000 euros), the company is soon set to launch initial flights from Florida’s Space Coast. Now that both the SpaceBalloon and the spaceflight capsule are complete, the last piece of the jigsaw is the Marine Spaceport Voyager, the launch vessel undergoing final preparations, that will also welcome the Neptune and its Explorers back on return from their six-hour space trips.
Space Perspective, which is now targeting 4,000 seat sales or 400 million USD in bookings by the end of 2024, is reportedly working to bring operations to the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.
