Spanish high altitude balloon company to fly tourist flights from South KoreaThe Spanish high altitude balloon startup Zero-2-Infinity has now established an office in South Korea with the intention of flying tourist flights from there for a ticket price of about $60k per flight.
Zero 2 Infinity plans to begin its Korean operations with a project called “Byul” — the Korean word for star — which offers a symbolic farewell for pet lovers. The initiative will invite volunteers to send the ashes of their deceased furry companions into the stratosphere, carried in star-shaped, biodegradable capsules. The company aims to begin collecting participants this September, with the first near-space release scheduled for December in Korea.
Byul will apparently be a smaller balloon with no human passengers. The company claims it has already test flown a larger helium balloon with humans aboard to an altitude of 6 miles, and again unmanned to 20 miles. If so it has done so with no publicity at all. This announcement today appears more a push to raise the $70 million the company says it needs to develop this manned balloon capsule.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The Spanish high altitude balloon startup Zero-2-Infinity has now established an office in South Korea with the intention of flying tourist flights from there for a ticket price of about $60k per flight.
Zero 2 Infinity plans to begin its Korean operations with a project called “Byul” — the Korean word for star — which offers a symbolic farewell for pet lovers. The initiative will invite volunteers to send the ashes of their deceased furry companions into the stratosphere, carried in star-shaped, biodegradable capsules. The company aims to begin collecting participants this September, with the first near-space release scheduled for December in Korea.
Byul will apparently be a smaller balloon with no human passengers. The company claims it has already test flown a larger helium balloon with humans aboard to an altitude of 6 miles, and again unmanned to 20 miles. If so it has done so with no publicity at all. This announcement today appears more a push to raise the $70 million the company says it needs to develop this manned balloon capsule.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
I somehow don’t see a single problem coming from this.
The comment of $60k per flight was a misunderstanding of one of the journalists.
The real cost will be closer to $500k per person.
About the comment that ” The company claims it has already test flown a larger helium balloon with humans aboard to an altitude of 6 miles, and again unmanned to 20 miles. ”
The claim is flown humans to 9.7 km, not on a helium balloon, but on a hot air balloon with the capsule attached below:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/josemariano_spacetourism-innovation-nearspace-activity-7326580453908344833-A5bl?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAAAApre8BMXqc0zKtSdGyC1ywPGbOZOjFmj8
And the uncrewed on we flew it in 2012 to 32 km:
https://vimeo.com/76524872
That prototype is now in Zaragoza’s mobility museum.
All this is based on this paper from 2002, that has inspired many:
https://www.zero2infinity.space/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/The-Role-of-Balloons-on-the-Future-of-Space-Tourism_IAC_Houston_2002.pdf
Enjoy!
Jose Mariano: Thank you for the corrections and clarifications. My reporting relied entirely on that news article, which clearly was not up to snuff.
For my readers: Mr. Mariano is the founder & CEO of Zero-2-Infinity.