by Andrew Morrison | When we were together at Smuts Hall, my friend Mark Shuttleworth sold a security software program that he’d developed in his room for $575 million. Among the many things that he did with his fortune was take a trip into space, pulling a full eight days of duty aboard the International Space Station. Mark was the second “self-funded” human being to ever go into space, and it cost him $20 million to do so. Nothing has ever made me more envious. Fast forward to today: an Arizona start-up company called World View is aiming to send tourists to the edge of space – 100,000 ft. up – dangling from a helium balloon in a capsule. “The sky’s going to be completely black. You’ll be able to see the curvature of the Earth,” says company CEO Jane Poynter. How much? A cool $75,000 for two hours all alone, looking down at the world. The first flights should launch in 2016. There is no doubt in my mind that the trip would be worth every penny.
EVERY COOL THING WE WANT
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nice timing on the post as it’s been 10 years to the day since concorde was decommissioned and it flew high enough (55,000 feet) to see the curvature of the earth …
At $75,000 for 2 hours… it’s still better value than owning a home in Vancouver.
Sign me up.
A spanish company that has been working on the same idea for a few years…they even have a few prototype videos on their site
http://www.inbloon.com
Ahhh… I really wanted to see the nice smooth landing on skiis over the rocky desert at about 60 mph. Think I’ll wait for a report from the first guy!