Want to take a balloon into space? These entrepreneurs could make it happen

Space Perspective aims to carry a capsule of eight passengers at a time, dangling from a 200m-tall balloon 30km above Earth. Photos: Space Perspective/TNS Space Perspective’s 200m-tall balloon that will lift a capsule of eight passengers up to 30km above Earth.

A pair of self-described serial entrepreneurs, best-known for flying a KFC chicken sandwich into space and living two years sealed inside a biosphere, are attempting to start a new human spaceflight company that instead of launching rockets will lift civilian passengers into the sky tethered to a high-performance balloon.

Space Perspective, introduced during a recent video news conference, aims to carry a capsule of eight passengers at a time, dangling from a 200m-tall balloon 30km above Earth. The balloon and capsule will gently ascend for about two hours at 20km/hour, floating along for another two hours as passengers enjoy refreshments and a view of the Earth below, and then descend back down at 20km/hour and splash down in either the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean.