UAE residents to travel to stratosphere
Residents of the United Arab Emirates will be able to go into the stratosphere to see the skyscraper Burj Khalifa from the ‘edge of space’.
According to the representatives of the company Space Perspective, the launch pad could be equipped on the island of The Palm Jumeirah, then during the ascent space tourists could admire the famous sights of the emirate.
The launch date of the project is not reported, but it is already known that the approximate cost of a six-hour flight into the stratosphere will be about 460 thousand dirhams per person. Passengers will be in a pressurised capsule that will be suspended from a hydrogen cylinder.
The ascent takes two hours, travellers will spend another two hours at the ‘edge of space’, after which they will be able to descend to Earth. During the flight, they will be offered meals, and the capsule with luxurious seats and panoramic windows will also have a toilet.
The so-called Space Lounge will be able to accommodate up to eight passengers and the captain at a time. There are also plans to invite a Michelin-starred chef on board to make the flight even more exclusive. The company has already sold 1,800 tickets, with another 225 million tickets waiting to be sold.
It will be possible to fly to space from the capital of the United Arab Emirates as early as 2025, with the cost of the trip starting at 600,000 dirhams, Kemel Harbaci, founder and CEO of European space company EOS-X Space, said earlier.
He said the flight programme is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of next year on Spaceship One manned capsules. They will be tested in conjunction with Spain’s National Institute of Aerospace Technology (Inta).
The pressurised EOS-X Space capsules will be able to accommodate up to eight people, including the pilot. They will ascend into the stratosphere in a helium balloon and will reach its boundary at an altitude of 40,000 metres, allowing tourists to enjoy spectacular views of space, the blue halo and the Earth during the five-hour journey.
