Space tourism company prepares to take passengers on a 6-hour journey 100,000 feet above the earth

TITUSVILLE, Fla. — Can you imagine going a hundred thousand feet above the earth without a rocket?

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A space tourism company will make this possible with a space balloon.

These balloons are being manufactured in a new factory located in Titusville.

Inside the 49,000-square-foot Space Coast Regional Airport facility, employees are already putting together the first space balloons.

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More than 1,600 people have already put down a deposit to take a $125,000 balloon ride to the edge of space, inside a pressurized lounge known as the spaceship Neptune.

On Tuesday, the Titusville factory had an “official” factory dedication.

“We go up under a balloon, which goes at the blazing 12 miles an hour,” said Taber Maccallum, Co-CEO of Space Perspective. “Very slowly ascending takes two hours to get, then we essentially float on top of the earth’s atmosphere -- there’s like an ice cube floating on water, then we vent a little bit of gas out, and we slowly descend down to splashdown in the water.”

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There is a parachute in case of an incident or a failure.

Space Perspective said they have plans for test flights without passengers before the end of the year.

“We’ll be getting into flights through the rest of next year, and then human flights sometime mid-2024,” Maccallum said.

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Space Florida believes there is a demand for space and adventure tourism.

“I’m not saying that the price is affordable for everyone, but it’s going to be coming down as more and more people develop platforms to get up to the edge of space and experience, perspective, experience what it’s like to get into space,” said Frank Dibello, President & CEO of Space Florida.

Neptune will seat eight explorers plus the captain.

The FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation will regulate the trips.

Read: Space tourism: Virgin Galactic launces to edge of space

SEE: Space tourism company prepares to take passengers on a 6-hour journey 100,000 feet above earth Can you imagine going a hundred thousand feet above the earth without a rocket? (Nicolle Osorio, WFTV.com)

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