A test version of the tourist space capsule is displayed by Space Perspective

You might question whether someone who says they want to take tourists to the edge of space via balloon will ever move past the ideation stage. But Space Perspective has overcome it by creating a real-world prototype of its Neptune spacecraft.

Space Perspective is a Florida-based company that made its initial announcement in 2020 about its plan to take six-hour flights up to a height of 100,000 feet (30,480 meters) with eight paying passengers and one pilot. From that altitude, one can clearly see the blackness of space and the curvature of the earth.

Under a hydrogen-filled "football stadium-length SpaceBalloon," the passengers would travel in a pressurized capsule known as Spaceship Neptune. It would take two hours to get up to altitude, another two hours for sightseeing, and then two hours for the descent. Gas would be gradually released from the balloon to accomplish the latter.

The capsule would be furnished with comfortable seats, a bar for refreshments, 360-degree panoramic windows, a live-streaming Wi-Fi communications system, and a below-deck restroom. Given that seats are already being sold in advance for US$125,000 apiece, that degree of luxury is only to be expected.

The recently finished Neptune test model is said to be heavily instrumented and to be an accurate representation of "what the company will be flying once commercially operational." That being said, since it is designed only to be the focus of numerous test flights, it does not have the cozy interior lounge. These flights will begin with an unmanned flight and end with a crewed flight later in the year.

Space Perspective founder and co-CEO Taber MacCallum stated, "Seeing Spaceship Neptune come to life before our eyes so spectacularly is hugely motivating the entire company to reach this milestone together."

According to reports, the company is also almost finished building the Marine Spaceport Voyager, a ship that will launch the flights and recover the capsule and balloon from the ocean upon their return.