Company To Balloon Tourists To the Edge of Space For $75,000

astroengine writes "If the thought of a rocket ride to space — or the $250,000 price tag to get there — leaves you feeling queasy, an Arizona firm thinks it has a gentler, less expensive alternative. World View, an offshoot of privately owned Paragon Space Development Corp., is developing a balloon-launched, near-space (30 kilometers) ride for $75,000 — less than one-third the current cost to fly on Virgin Galactic's suborbital SpaceShipTwo. "It really is very gentle. You can be up at altitude for hours, for days for research if you need to be... I think we have the opportunity to give a really, really incredible experience to people — and for a lot less than most of what's out on the market right now," project co-founder and Paragon president Jane Poynter told Discovery News."

30Km isn't space

[rossdee]

30Km isn't space, its only about 1/3 of the way there
I think the definition of space starts at about 100Km
you certainly couldnt achieve orbit at 30Km, you'd burn up

Re:30Km isn't space

[TWX]

Indeed. If I have money to burn, I wouldn't burn it by getting part-of-the-way to space. That's the space-equivalent of going out to meet the prettiest gal and take her home, but ending up at the strip club and leaving with frustration.