Yes, Please!

Fly me to the moon—or, you know, just "thrillingly close" to outer space:

Instead of rocket-powered sub-orbital flights like those of Virgin Galactic, could high-altitude ballooning become the most viable way of letting paying tourists experience space — or at least something thrillingly close to it?

Ballooning is already tried and tested technology: "It's the origin of space travel," explains Annelie Schoenmaker, external relations and legal officer for Zero2infinity, a Spanish company that plans to launch passengers to near space using balloons known as "Bloons" for €110,000 ($124,000) a time.

Okay, so I could never afford to do this in one million years, but IF I COULD, I would Bloon the fuck outta my fat ass right into the stratosphere!

Of course, it's not actually space — balloons only travel to a height of between 30-40km, with 36km being seen as optimum; to reach what is defined as space, you need to travel to a height of 100km. "But it is pretty close and it gives you a totally different experience," says Michael Lopez-Alegria, former NASA astronaut and president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation.

You are still high enough that you are above 99% of the Earth's atmosphere and although you don't experience weightlessness, you are able to see something that most humans haven't — the "Thin Blue Line" of the Earth's atmosphere. Passengers would also be able to see the Earth in the blackness of space, as well as the sun rise over the curvature of the planet.

...Balloons can in theory launch from anywhere in the world, as long as the weather is favorable. Unlike rockets, there is no big acceleration, with a balloon taking between 1.5-2 hours to reach maximum altitude. Once there, inside a capsule attached to the balloon, crew and passengers can bob along on the edge of our atmosphere for up to two hours. Once built, both the Bloon and World View cabins will have toilet facilities and you'll even be able to dine on board.

...To return to Earth, helium is vented from the balloon, then a ParaWing, which is already deployed, takes over the remainder of the descent. Schoenmaker explains: "For safety, we also have a further two back-up chutes." The descent back to Earth takes around an hour, meaning there is no big acceleration, with the capsule landing in a predetermined location, guided back to Earth by a pilot and the support of mission control.

...As with all forms of commercial space experiences, safety is a huge factor in determining when paying passenger flights will realistically take place. "We will not launch until we are completely satisfied and confident with our testing," explains [Jane Poynter, CEO of World View, which will offer near-space ballooning trips for $75,000]. In late February, World View announced it had successfully flown a parafoil from a height of 102,000 feet (31 kilometers). With extensive unmanned testing already underway, the hope for World View is that it could launch as soon as the end of 2016, with Bloon expecting to begin flights in the next few years.

So, the only question I have is: Given the opportunity, would you take a Bloon ride?