Venturing into space is no longer reserved for professional astronauts, as the development of space tourism shows. The phenomenon is such that some musicians now consider performing from the stratosphere.
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon for the first time in front of hundreds of millions of viewers. More than half a century later, The Chainsmokers intend to continue the legacy of the American astronaut by becoming the first music group to give a concert in the stratosphere.
The duo aims to perform in a pressurized capsule attached to a stratospheric balloon, 30 kilometers above sea level, according to many American media. This ambitious project should become reality in 2024 with the help of the space tourism company World View.
“We’ve always dreamed of going to space and we’re thrilled to partner with World View to bring this adventure and experience to life,” The Chainsmokers said in a statement quoted by Variety. “We know the views from both Earth and space are going to be amazing and inspiring; and we hope this flight will inspire us for our future endeavours.”
A $4 billion market by 2030
For World View, this concert in space is above all an opportunity to democratize space tourism. UBS estimates that this still-infancy market could be worth $4 billion by 2030. So far, only a few billionaires and celebrities like Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and William Shatner have flown miles from Earth to Earth. opportunity for private space travel.
But other space tourists already have their ticket in their pocket. Virgin Galactic announced in November that it had sold nearly 100 tickets at 450,000 dollars each (380,639 euros) since August. The company would have already sold some 600 tickets between 2005 and 2015. At the time, their price was between 200,000 and 250,000 dollars. Despite this prohibitive price, Virgin Galactic has good hopes of ensuring 400 commercial flights in space per year and per space base.
Richard Branson’s company is not the only one betting on the development of space tourism. Orbital Assembly Corporation has announced its intention to start building what it presents as “the first space hotel” in 2025. Its name: Voyager Station. It is supposed to be able to accommodate up to 440 people from 2027. The happy (and especially ultra-wealthy) passengers of Voyager Station will be able to enjoy all the modern comforts, including restaurants, a cinema, a spa and even a gymnasium . The latter will turn into a concert hall at nightfall to allow “Earth’s biggest stars to rock the station while circumnavigating the planet”, as one of the project’s architects explained, Tim Alatorre at Dezeen.
Giving a concert in space, many musicians dream of it but none have done it yet. Lady Gaga toyed with the idea in 2015, when she announced that she would sing the song aboard one of the Virgin Galactic shuttles. This concert was to take place during the Zero G Colony festival in New Mexico, where Spaceport America, a space airport managed by the space tourism company, is based. In the end, it never took place, which leaves the field open for The Chainsmokers to make history by becoming the first group to perform at altitudes of miles. Beyond the publicity stunt, the group obviously avoids talking about the environmental bill of such a project…