Basic HTML Version
View’s website – tethered to a balloon, much like the
one with which Nott helped launch Eustace into the
deep stratosphere. They will spend two hours in near
space and return before rush hour.
It’s a day trip to space.
“As opposed to five minutes in the space rocket
and maybe the guy next to you is vomiting,” says Nott,
adding that he has never seen anyone get airsick in a
balloon ride.
Eustace’s jump didn’t just set a record; it proved
the concept’s feasibility. Meanwhile, spaceship-based,
private-passenger trips to space remain an expensive,
complicated, and, recently, a tragically flawed
enterprise.
Here’s another advantage. World View is charging
$75,000 for the trip as opposed to the $250,000 price
point for Virgin Galactic’s there-and-back-in-a-blink
excursions.
While the price tag doesn’t quite represent the
democratization of space, it sure makes it more accessible. “Seventy-five
thousand dollars is real money,” says Nott, “but five hundred people have
flown into space in all of history. Five hundred people a year will have the
opportunity just in our balloon.”
And what will happen when they get there?
“Taber McCallum absolutely feels – and I support him – that if you
give people a better perspective on the world, they will treat the world and
each other better,” says Nott. “It’s not a novel idea, but he’s the guy actually
doing it.”
Of course, he is.
He’s got his secret weapon.
Meanwhile, Nott keeps pointing that balloon towards the stars and into
the realm of possibility. Among his many projects, which include helping to
develop a satellite-guided system for deterring asteroids that may be headed
toward Earth, is consulting with NASA to send small balloons equipped with
cameras and instruments to other planets.
“We need another hour,” Nott laughs. “We’ve got to talk about sending
balloons to Saturn. Titan is an extraordinary place, and people should send a
balloon to Titan.”
48
winter
|
spr ing
UP
&
OUT
Alan Eustace (seen here with Julian Nott), wore a space suit similar in design to one
worn by Shuttle astronauts. He used an entirely new kind of stabilizing system, called
SABER, developed especially for this project. This system is seen to have great
potential for protecting those in the highest reaches of the atmosphere, allowing them
to parachute safely to Earth.
Photo:TC Reiner