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COMPANY SEEKS TO USE BALLOONS TO FLY CUSTOMERS TO EDGE OF EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Talk about “up, up and away." A company is looking to take customers higher than they ever thought they could get. Florida-based Space Perspective is planning to use an advanced balloon to fly customers from Alaska to the highest reaches of Earth's atmosphere. The balloon rides will be manned by a flight crew, which will loft eight passengers in a pressurized capsule suspended under a hydrogen balloon the size of a football stadium. Don't go trying to book a flight now; the CEO of Alaska Aerospace Corp. says the first flights won't be ready for a few years. And it will be no cheap thrill; each passenger could end up paying about $125,000 for a six-hour journey.
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