Earth seen from a satellite. Drawing. - PureStock - Sipa

Space Perspective announced on Thursday its intention to take customers into space aboard a balloon called Spaceship Neptune. Passengers will take place in a pressurized capsule that can accommodate up to eight people and a pilot. They will make a two-hour ascent which will take them to an altitude of around 30 kilometers, the company said in a press release published on its website. The occupants will then remain in orbit for two hours.

We are #SpacePerspective, the off-world travel company with the mission to radically expand your view of our shared home, Earth, while making #SpaceFlight more accessible and affordable. To learn more, check out the live-stream HAPPENING NOW: https://t.co/fk7S0YcDKp #ONEWorld pic.twitter.com/auf1oHVdtN

- Space Perspective (@SpacePerspectiv) June 18, 2020

The balloon will then return to Earth where a boat will pick up those whom Space Perspective would like to call the "explorers" after landing in the Atlantic Ocean. The company says it is ready to make a first test flight without passengers "early 2021" and is pleased to be able to use for takeoff of its spacecraft a "symbolic" site. It is indeed the airstrip of the Kennedy space center where the NASA shuttles land.

$ 125,000 per trip

Space tourists will not be the only people that Space Perspective wants to see boarded in its "high performance ball" as big as a football field. The project is also intended for researchers, teachers and their students. They will be able to make observations and experiments using the equipment that the capsule can carry.

The cabin is however equipped with toilets and a bar that will appeal to non-professional occupants. They will have to pay $ 125,000 (about 110,000 euros) per person to travel, reports CBS News. "We want them to be able to experience what astronauts are talking about, to see the Earth from space [and] do so comfortably, quietly and easily," said Jane Poynter, co-director of Space Perspective.

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