Japanese Startup Announces Stratospheric Balloon Tour Plans

In the near future, space tourism may no longer be the exclusive domain of billionaires. A startup in Japan is aiming to allow customers to travel into the stratosphere for less than $200,000. Yes, millionaires can now see the Earth’s curvature without handing their entire net worth to an Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos-backed venture, while veryone else will have to settle for keeping our feet planted on terra firma.

Iwaya Giken has been working since 2012 to develop an airtight two-seat capsule and a balloon capable of taking a passenger 15 miles into the sky. According to the Associated Press, the company announced plans with Japanese travel agency JTB Corp. to arrange trips to “almost space.” The drum-shaped plastic cabin is 4.9 feet in diameter, seating a pilot and a passenger. A helium-filled balloon will lift the cabin from a facility in Hokkaido. Iwaya Giken, based in Sapporo in northern Japan, has stated that flights will remain entirely within Japanese airspace.

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