Chinese firm to send people on Space trip via balloon at $77000, return trip with parachute

What if somebody offers you a trip to space in a balloon? The trip is exciting enough for the enthusiasts but can burn a hole in your pocket! Well, the piece of news is that a Chinese firm has developed the country’s very first space parachute suit as part of their business plan. The company offers to send people into space in a high-tech balloon. Don’t worry! They have arrangements to bring you back on Earth as well. A parachute will be used to let you return to your own planet. And guess what? This entire trip will cost you a whopping USD 77,000, which is not a big amount for the richie richs!

Beijing-based company JHY Space Technology Co Ltd (Space Vision) has released the first-ever space parachuting suit of China. The company will test related equipment, and recruit more parachuting volunteers to train them in the next few months, state-run China Daily reported. The first three challengers include an entrepreneur, a champion woman parachutist and an aircraft engineer, it said.

In a high-tech balloon, the challengers will soar into the stratosphere and will return to the earth in a parachute. The especially customised suit comes with a radar, ground-based monitoring operations, space-ground communications and an image transmission system. Out of plenty of potential customers in China who have enough courage, physical strength, skills and wealth, professional parachutist He Yufeng would become the first woman space parachutist globally after her tryout.

"I want to challenge myself, and challenge the current world record of 41,419 metres, which was established by former Google executive Alan Eustace for space sky diving," she said. Jiang Fang, founder and president of Space Vision, said many technical experts have endorsed the feasibility of the commercial tour, and China's flight system technology for manned spacesuits is mature enough for such projects.

We hope to lead the growth of the domestic commercial aerospace sector by starting with space parachuting, and gradually establish a path for the public to travel in the space," he said. According to Jiang, the space parachuting trip will cost around 500,000 yuan (USD 77,000). The commercial space parachuting project will be launched in Sanya, Hainan province, where the tropical island has ocean and space resources, clean air and a space launch centre.

(With inputs from PTI)