Another project for space tourists: Space Perspective has announced plans to launch a marine spaceport for its stratospheric balloon capsules. The company acquired the MS Voyager, which is planned to be converted into an “ocean launch platform” for the Spaceship Neptune spacecraft, from which the launch will take place. Later, as the company assures, several such platforms will be built and placed in different oceans around the globe.
The plans are as follows: the ship is currently being converted into a launch platform at a shipyard in Louisiana, with the naval spaceport expected to be ready by the end of next year. The first 89-meter “ocean spaceport” will be based at Port Canaveral in Florida. The company “plans to deploy the rest of the spaceport fleet around the world.”
Originally, Space Perspective planned to launch the Neptune spacecraft from Florida’s Space Coast. However, “a balloon launch pad at sea creates a more flexible launch environment,” the company said. “Marine spaceports can be moved to areas with good weather for launching,” they assure. They also state that the actual ship, which was supposed to be based on this platform, has already been completed.
It’s about the ship Neptune, a capsule that rises into the stratosphere with the help of a giant “air-space” ball. It is powered by hydrogen and rises at a slow speed of 19 kilometers per hour. The entire flight lasts about six hours, after which the capsule falls into the ocean at the end of the journey.
At the same time, Space Perspective found a lot of people willing to go into space on a balloon, selling more than a thousand tickets for $125,000 each. Test flights are planned for next year, and by 2024 – the transition to commercial rails.