Spaceship Neptune is a design by PriestmanGoode in collaboration with the US-based Space Perspective that sets the stage for prospective space travel to give ‘explorers’ an out-of-this-world adventure. “Neptune is a great project to work on, it’s the culmination of a long-term collaboration that has resulted in the only spaceship that is designed with the human experience at its core,” says Nigel Goode, designer and co-founder of PriestmanGoode, which has its headquarters in London.

01 min watch

The design started with a thought for a memorable and comfortable user experience and consequently has been designed from the inside out. Various components have been added to create a holistic experience, including essentials for a six-hour journey, such as a lavatory.

To ensure an unobstructed view of the uncharted territory, PriestmanGoode has created an efficient space that lets passengers move around during the ride, with glasses providing a 360-degree view of what lies outside. Additionally, a highly functional environment for the pilot and the requirement for the minimal weight of the capsule guided the final form of the structure. The design of the capsule is a significant component in providing passengers an experience equivalent to that of astronauts seeing the Earth in space for the first time.

A pilot will fly up to eight “explorers” to the edge of space and safely back in Spaceship Neptune, taking them where only 20 people have been before. After a two-hour gentle ascent above 99 per cent of the Earth’s atmosphere to 100,000 feet, the spaceship cruises above our home planet for up to two hours, giving passengers and research payloads time to soak in their experience and also share it on social media. Neptune then heads into a two-hour descent under the balloon and splashes down, where a ship retrieves the passengers, the capsule and the balloon.

“Space Perspective is developing a uniquely accessible space travel experience. The team at PriestmanGoode worked with us to create that experience with Spaceship Neptune, giving it an off-world yet classic design while meeting a wide range of human factors, engineering, manufacturing and operating requirements,” shares Taber MacCallum, founder and co-CEO of Space Perspective.

Scheduled for early 2021, the inaugural uncrewed test flight will carry a suite of research payloads from the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.  

(Text by Ankitha Gattupalli, intern at stirworld.com)