Eat lunch at the edge of space for R2,4m

The space race just got a new entrant. France’s Zephalto is offering passengers the chance to travel to the stratosphere in a balloon, starting at €120 000 (R2.4 million) per person in 2025.

“I partnered with the French space agency, and we worked on the concept of the balloon together,” says Zephalto founder and aerospace engineer Vincent Farret d’Astiès.

He tells Bloomberg that he’s planning on 60 flights a year, with just six passengers on board each flight. The company aims to provide an experience that brings the best bits of French hospitality—fine food, wine and design—to the edges of space for those who can afford the six-figure ticket.

Balloons filled with helium or hydrogen will depart from France with two pilots on board and rise 25 kilometres into the stratosphere for 1 1/2 hours. Once at peak altitude, which is about three times higher than for a commercial airliner, the balloon will stay for three hours, giving guests a chance to take in views previously seen only by astronauts.

The descent will take a further hour and a half, for a six-hour round trip.“We choose 25 kilometres high because it’s the altitude where you are in the darkness of space, with 98% of the atmosphere below you, so you can enjoy the curvature of the Earth in the blue line.

“You’re in the darkness of space, but without the zero gravity experience,” says Farret d’Astiès.

Nasa says outer space officially begins 50 miles above the Earth. Other international bodies put it at 100 km at what’s known as the Kármán Line.

The consumer space race

Zephalto is a new European entrant in the commercial space race, but it’s not the only space balloon in the game. Florida-based Space Perspectives is offering voyages aboard its Neptune One vessel, going a little higher (19 miles) for a little less money: US$125 000. Flights will begin in 2024.

Using rockets — and offering an option to experience weightlessness — both Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. and Blue Origin LLC have launched civilian space flights that saw Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos suit up alongside space tourists for the flights. Blue Origin is aiming to restart its voyages by the end of this year since an unmanned rocket crashed in 2022.

On Monday, Elon Musk’s SpaceX was forced to delay its next-generation Starship rocket 10 minutes before liftoff; plans are to eventually fly tourists around the moon. Unlike its American competitor, Zephalto will land on the ground not in the sea, and the company highlights its luxury design.

Compared to rockets, space balloon options are for much more serene, less risky tourism, and anyone can go without prior training; if you’re fit to travel on a commercial airline, you’re fit to fly on this space balloon.

Balloons capable of reaching the stratosphere have been used by scientists and weather researchers since the 1930s. The crewed tourism aspect is the innovation. CNES (Centre national d’études spatiales, France’s space agency) has been sending balloons up for more than 60 years.— Moneyweb