Troubled balloon-tourism pioneer Space Perspective bought by Spanish company

The European company Eos X Space has acquired Space Perspective, one its key rivals in the nascent field of stratospheric balloon tourism.

Florida-based Space Perspective has been developing a luxury balloon-borne capsule called Spaceship Neptune, which is designed to carry passengers on leisurely trips through the stratosphere for $125,000 per seat.

Space Perspective made serious progress over the years, even launching a full (though uncrewed) test flight of the first Spaceship Neptune, named Excelsior, to a maximum altitude of about 100,000 feet (30,480 meters) in September of 2024. However, the company fell upon tough times recently.

Short on cash, Space Perspective furloughed nearly its entire workforce in January and was evicted a few months later from the Florida airport that hosted several of its facilities, according to media reports.

The acquisition by Eos X Space therefore appears to be a lifeline. Space Perspective "will operate with full autonomy, under U.S. leadership and corporate structure," Eos X Space representatives said in an emailed statement on Thursday (July 24).

Space Perspective's efforts will dovetail with those of Madrid-based Eos X Space, an aerospace outfit founded in 2020 that has been working on a balloon-tourism system of its own.

"This is a historic opportunity for two former rivals to join forces and make manned space tourism a reality," Eos X Space Founder and CEO Kemel Kharbachi said in the same statement.

Eos X Space views the acquisition, the terms of which were not disclosed, as a chance to join the top echelon of space tourism providers, which currently consists of SpaceX (for orbital flights) as well as Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, both of which offer rocket-powered trips to and from suborbital space. (Balloon-borne capsules don't reach space, of course, but they do allow passengers to see the curve of our planet against the inky void.)

The move also allows Eos X Space to extend its operations and influence to the United States. The company said it will soon have two key sites in the U.S. — a spaceport at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for balloon flights and a research and development facility in California's Silicon Valley. Eventually, Eos X Space plans to move its global operational headquarters to the U.S.

"This is not just a strategic acquisition; it is a declaration of our long-term vision," Kharbachi said. "We are building a scalable, ethical and efficient space platform driven by innovation, purpose and excellence."