Happy Monday, friends. It’s your Space Coast correspondent James Sparvero with disappointing news about a startup I’ve been very excited about over the last few years.
Space Perspective is the company that first told us in 2020 about its plans to fly customers to see the Earth and space from the stratosphere on a luxury balloon ride.
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In my last story in September when I got to see the balloon capsule, the founder and co-CEO Jane Poynter told me the first flights with those paying passengers could be this year but now, in a major turn of events, we learned Space Perspective owes more than $90,000 in unpaid rent at the Titusville airport.
That’s where the company has its “Mission Control” building and balloon factory that I was invited to see too back in 2023.
Our reporter Jarell Baker worked on a story over the weekend about the unpaid rent and eviction notice. Now, I’m here at the airport asking questions.
So far, I’ve talked to Space Perspective employees who I found out have been furloughed. I saw them packing up their things into their cars and leaving the offices.
I also tried learning more from the airport who issued the eviction notice but since it’s Martin Luther King Day, no one’s working in administration.
While I may not have all the answers right now about the future of the company, including those 1,800, $125,000 tickets Space Perspective says it sold, it certainly doesn’t look good.
I’ve noticed a lot of negative comments on the company’s socials in the last year with people going as far as saying they’re false advertising by calling themselves a space company when in fact, you’re not technically in space on this balloon ride. Nevertheless, I did think the idea was extremely cool and I’ve even told Jane twice now that I’d like report from one of the balloon rides. She just smiled and said, “Give me a call!”
So now, we wait for the company to tell us what its plans are moving forward. If the flights never happen, I’ll take the whole story over the last five years as a learning experience that while a tourism company can have bold dreams, making them a reality can be something entirely different.
📧 Do you have any specific space topics you’d like to discuss? Send me an email here.
👋 Here’s a little bit more about me.
Little did I know when watching Apollo 13 in the third grade that 20 years later, I was destined for a thrilling career as your Space Coast multimedia journalist.
Chemistry and biology weren’t so interesting to me in high school science, but I loved my Earth and Space class (Thanks, Mr. Lang).
Then in 2016, I traded Capitol correspondent in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for space correspondent. I’m proud that my first live report at News 6 happened to be the first time SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 booster on a barge. What seems so routine now was a really big deal that day in our newsroom!
From there, I’ve covered the Commercial Crew program and the return of human spaceflight to Kennedy Space Center (Demo-2 launched on my 33rd birthday!)
Now, as our coverage looks forward to missions to the moon and Mars, I often tell others I have the best job in local news. Because after all I’ve seen so far, I think I would be bored working somewhere else. I even bought a house near the Cape with a great view to the north so I never miss a launch even when I’m not working.
After eight years on the beat, though, I still consider myself a young space reporter and I always look forward to learning something new with every assignment.
Have a great launch into the rest of your week!
