SpaceVIP is drumming up business in the nascent industry of space tourism by offering to take six participants into suborbit for a meal catered by a Michelin Star restaurant.
And if you have $495,000 on hand, you might join them, according to Popular Science.
It’s an opportunity where tourists “will be making history by enjoying the meal of a lifetime above 99-percent of Earth’s atmosphere,” SpaceVIP told Popular Science.
Spaceship Neptune is a carbon neutral “SpaceBalloon” with a pressurized cabin designed by Space Perspective. Participants will board the vessel and then spend the next six hours being catered to by Rasmus Munk, the head chef of Alchemist, which has earned two Michelin stars.
“Embarking on this unprecedented culinary odyssey to the cosmos marks a pivotal moment in human history,” Roman Chiporukha, founder of SpaceVIP, said in a statement. “This inaugural voyage is but the first chapter in SpaceVIP’s mission to harness the transformative power of space travel to elevate human consciousness and shape the course of our collective evolution.”
The trip is designed to inspire the overview effect, Space Perspective representatives said, referring to a feeling of awe experienced by many astronauts as they view Earth from above.
Participants will need to be early risers, considering the itinerary begins at 4 a.m. By 6 a.m., Spaceship Neptune will ascend 100,000 feet above sea level just as the sun rises over the planet — roughly three times higher than a commercial airliner. For the next two hours, voyagers will be able to see the curvature of Earth from 20 miles overhead — as well as some cocktails and hors d’ouvres.
By 10 a.m., the vessel will descend gently into the ocean, where a team will retrieve everyone for their return trip to land.
Test flights will begin later this year, with the trip expected to launch in 2025.
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