Sapporo startup will take tourists to “space” in balloons

A Hokkaido startup is launching a “space tourism” business to take tourists on balloon rides 25 kilometers into the stratosphere to marvel at views of the curvature of the Earth.

He indicated that the prices of the tickets, although they are not cheap, will not be from the other world.

The company, called Iwaya Giken, said passengers can easily make the trip without any special training because there will still be gravity at that altitude.

He hopes customers will be able to use the service by the end of the year. On one trip, the balloon will ascend for two hours, allowing its occupants to enjoy the view for an hour before landing back in the ocean.

The cost of a trip will start around 24 million yen ($178,100) per person. But that number will eventually drop.

“In the future, we will be able to lower the price to a range between 1 and 2 million yen,” said the company’s president, Keisuke Iwaya, 36.

The firm showed off the capsule-shaped plastic booth it designed for the balloon at an event on February 21.

The balloon is 41 meters high and has a spherical two-seater cabin 1.5 meters in diameter.

The cabin is specially designed not to be affected by changes in temperature and air pressure. He comes equipped with life support equipment and can transform into a parashoot in an emergency.

The startup developed everything in-house to ensure security, including its communication devices, Iwaya said.

The company plans to recruit five passengers and a pilot for the first batch of flights later this year and hopes to launch them from Hokkaido.

It has already carried out more than 300 flight tests, and the highest point the balloon has reached is about 40 km in the air.

JTB Corp., a major travel agency, is arranging the tours with the startup and will decide when it is ready to sell packages after reviewing data from experiments and flight tests.

US startup Space Perspective is also planning to launch a similar hot-air ballooning business. The first flight is scheduled for the second half of 2024.