Space Tourism by Balloon Coming

Space tourism has been a hot topic for years, with passengers shelling out up to $20 million for a shot at getting out of Earth's atmosphere.The latest space tourism venture depends more on hot air than rocket science.

World View Enterprises announced plans Tuesday to send people up in a capsule, lifted 19 miles by a high-altitude balloon. Jane Poynter, CEO of the Tucson, Ariz.-based company, said the price for the four-hour ride would be $75,000.

Poynter said the plan uses existing technology and the first launch could be as early as the end of 2016.

"There are balloons this size that have already flown up many, many times for decades," Poynter said. "From a technical point of view this is incredibly doable, low risk."

Poynter points out that the main virtue of a balloon trip is to get an excellent look at the curvature of the earth.he venture isn't designed for passengers to experience weightlessness.The flight would take 90 minutes to go up at about 1,000 feet a minute, set sail up high for 2 hours with an emphasis on smooth riding, and then come back down in 40 minutes, Poynter said. The capsule's interior will be roomy enough for its eight passengers to walk around.

Outside space expert Scott Pace, a former NASA associate administrator now space policy director at George Washington University, agreed that this is technically feasible. He said the issue is whether there's enough of a market for it to be financially doable, calling it "an interesting market test."

A concept image of the balloon in flight

 Poynter is confident that there’s a market, with other firms like Virgin Galatic  pre-selling tickets for their space trips. Poynter, who also runs the space firm Paragon Space Development Corporation, claims that “Space tourism is here to stay.”