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<\/a>. However, the company fell upon tough times recently.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n Short on cash, Space Perspective furloughed nearly its entire workforce<\/a> in January and was evicted a few months later<\/a> from the Florida airport that hosted several of its facilities, according to media reports.<\/p>\n 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).<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n An image taken from Space Perspective’s Spaceship Neptune Excelsior during its first full test flight on Sept. 15, 2024. (Image credit: Space Perspective)<\/p>\n 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<\/a> (for orbital flights) as well as Blue Origin<\/a> and Virgin Galactic<\/a>, 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.)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/5dSzqzMxuffMXQWHowt3SP.jpg\")
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