Here's the Finished Neptune Excelsior Capsule That Will Be Taking You to Space

Space Perspective first made headlines in 2020. At the time, Neptune One was going by Spaceship Neptune, but the company's mission never changed. They're gunning for the world's first – and only, as of the time of writing – carbon-neutral space flight, taking eight passengers to an altitude of 41.419 km (25.736 miles) at a speed of about 12 mph (19.3 kph).

The eight passengers, seven tourists and a pilot, will be traveling in a capsule called Neptune, which ascends thanks to a SpaceBalloon. Each journey, which doesn't even come close to the Karman line and the edge of space, lasts six hours: two for the ascent, two for hovering in position to take in the views, and two for the descent that ends with a splash in the ocean and retrieval of the capsule by ship.

The SpaceBalloon started testing just one year later, in 2021, and Space Perspective calls its status "complete." They're now focusing on the Neptune capsule, which got its first finished test unit dubbed Excelsior. Uncrewed flight tests are scheduled for the next weeks, while crewed flights will probably take place later this year.

Space Perspective still doesn't offer a timeline for the project or an estimate for the first flight, and it's for the better, considering they've already blown through several announced deadlines. So here's to taking it slow and celebrating each milestone as it comes: the test capsule offers a good look at what the finished Neptune capsule might look like, from the spacious interior to the repeated vertical windows designed to offer panoramic views.

Both are necessary, given the stated goal of democratizing space tourism. Neptune Excelsior is 16 feet (4.9 meters) in diameter and provides a pressurized volume of more than 2,000 cubic feet (60 cubic meters). The interior is empty, but that could be temporary or down to the fact that this is, after all, a test capsule.

The actual Neptune will offer the world's first Space Lounge, which comes with a bar and chef's menu, WiFi, "plush seating and luxury amenities" of an unspecified nature. There's even a Space Spa onboard, which is a fancy name Space Perspective has chosen for what they say is the world's first "proper" restroom in space.

The highest selling point of such a flight, though, is the two-hour interval spent in space while taking in the views through the panoramic windows. It might seem silly to advertise a $125,000 flight to space by promising the most Instagrammable views, but Space Perspective did it. According to them, it worked because they have the first 30 flights already fully booked.