Company Wants You to Visit Near-Space In Their "Bloon"

cylonlover writes "While space tourism efforts by the likes of Space Adventures and Virgin Galactic are relying on the tried and true technology of rockets to launch paying customers into space, Barcelona-based company zero2infinity proposes a more leisurely and eco-friendly ride into near-space using a helium balloon called the bloon. Designed to carry passengers to an altitude of 36 km (22 miles), an unmanned scale prototype bloon was flown to an altitude of 33 km (20 miles) last year and the company is already taking bookings for passenger flights that are expected to lift off sometime between 2013 and 2015."

Warning!

[SethThresher]

Watch out for monkeys throwing pins, those guys will RUIN your day.

Their secret to making the balloon fly higher

[istartedi]

Their secret to making the balloon fly higher? Remove letters to reduce weight.

Re:Kind of unsafe?

[NonUniqueNickname]

In the unlikely event of the helium balloon bursting, the captain will yell the evacuation procedure in a chipmunk voice and everyone will die, of laughter.