At $125,000 per seat, new stratospheric balloon flights are set to create what could be the most accessible form of space tourism yet – costing less than half the price of the ill-fated Titanic submarine expedition and comparable to a fully-equipped Mount Everest climb.
Roman Chiporukha, founder of SpaceVIP, the world’s first space tourism brokerage, said these flights represent a watershed moment that could bridge the gap between ultra-high-net-worth space travellers and affluent adventure seekers.
“Right now you can do two things. You can go on a zero gravity flight, which flies in these parabolas. Or you can do a 10-day mission to the International Space Station,” Chiporukha told Arabian Business.
“A zero gravity ticket is $10,000 per person. A trip to the International Space Station for 10 days is $60 million or starting at $60 million.”
While OceanGate’s Titanic expedition charged $250,000 for its deep-sea adventure and a comprehensive Everest expedition can cost upwards of $100,000 when including gear and additional expenses, the new space tourism offerings aim to make the edge of space more attainable for adventure-seeking high-net-worth individuals.
SpaceVIP, which acts as an aggregator for major space tourism operators including SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic, has identified this price point as a potential game-changer for the sector.
The company has already successfully brokered multi-million dollar tickets to space but sees the upcoming stratospheric balloon flights as an opportunity to expand the market.
Global race for stratospheric tourism
Three major operators are preparing to launch balloon-based space tourism services: Space Perspective in Florida, Zephalto in France, and Japanese firm Iwatani Giken. These pressurised capsules will offer six-hour journeys to the edge of space, providing views of Earth’s curvature without the need for specialist training.
Iwatani Giken has already achieved a significant milestone with a successful manned balloon flight reaching 20,816 metres – the highest altitude ever recorded for such a flight in Japan. The five-hour journey covered 41 kilometres using a two-seater pressurised cabin, marking a crucial step toward commercial operations.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia recently announced plans for stratospheric tourist flights through Halo Space, with tickets priced at $164,000, positioning itself as a key player in the emerging market.
“It’s like being on an airplane. You can wear a simple shirt and go on the capsule without any sort of training,” said Chiporukha.
“If you’ve ever been on a hot air balloon ride, it’s similar to that. It’s a slow ascent. You spend two hours going up, two hours at the top, and then two hours going down.”
Market education still behind
Despite growing interest, particularly from the Middle East region, Chiporukha identified public understanding as the industry’s biggest hurdle.
“If you walked to any fancy hotel in Dubai right now and asked 1,000 people if they knew why space was important, I bet you 80 percent of them could answer and say, ‘It’s not important. It’s some billionaire wasting all of this money unnecessarily.'”
He believes this perception overlooks space technology’s impact on daily life.
“At least 50 percent of the technological innovation that they take for granted on a daily basis actually comes from space technology,” he said, citing examples from satellite communications to GPS technology.
The Middle East, particularly the UAE, has shown significant interest in space development since launching its space initiatives in 2006. During recent meetings with the UAE Space Center, Chiporukha discussed potential partnerships focusing on education and infrastructure development.
The new generation of space tourism vehicles offers unique advantages for regional expansion.
“Space Perspective launches their capsule off a ship,” Chiporukha explained.
“You don’t need to build a whole launch site in the GCC or in the UAE. You can bring the ship from Florida, park it outside of the bay, and launch balloons off of it.”
Future market dynamics
Drawing parallels with aviation history, Chiporukha predicted a similar evolution for space tourism prices.
“The space tourism market is in the same place as the aviation industry 100 years ago. When the airplane was invented, taking a flight was initially very expensive, but now you can fly to London for $500 on an economy flight,” he said.
The key to price reduction, he believes, lies in market education and resulting economies of scale.
“Once the public is educated, they will express interest in space. Once there’s interest, there’s desire to buy, and once there’s this desire to buy, you have economies of scale,” he added.
Beyond the commercial aspects, Chiporukha highlighted space travel’s potential impact on human perspective. He describes the “overview effect,” a phenomenon reported by astronauts who experience a profound shift in consciousness when viewing Earth from space.
“You feel a sense of interconnectedness with the planet that you’re from and all of the people on it when you see it from space… you don’t see a planet like you and I would on a Google Map with borders and dogmas and conflict.”
With Space Perspective completing successful test flights and planning to launch commercial operations by 2025, the industry appears poised for significant change.
“Imagine if we got all of the stuff we have now in the last 50 years,” Chiporukha concluded, “imagine what the next 50 years will bring if we just pay more attention to it.”
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