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Couples Could Have Their Weddings in Space by 2024

This undated image provided by World View shows World View capsule and balloon spacecraft that will rise to 100,000 feet above Earth for passengers to see curvature of the planet and the blackness of space. (AP).
This undated image provided by World View shows World View capsule and balloon spacecraft that will rise to 100,000 feet above Earth for passengers to see curvature of the planet and the blackness of space. (AP).
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Couples Could Have Their Weddings in Space by 2024

This undated image provided by World View shows World View capsule and balloon spacecraft that will rise to 100,000 feet above Earth for passengers to see curvature of the planet and the blackness of space. (AP).
This undated image provided by World View shows World View capsule and balloon spacecraft that will rise to 100,000 feet above Earth for passengers to see curvature of the planet and the blackness of space. (AP).

Would you get married in space? Couples could have their weddings inside a capsule carried by a stadium-size balloon 100,000 feet above Earth by 2024 - but tickets will set you back $125,000.

Florida-based firm Space Perspective is currently selling flights on its capsules for $125,000 (£91,000) that will gift voyagers 'insane' views of Earth, according to The Daily Mail.

Capsules carried by the firm's giant space balloons will take up to eight guests into the stratosphere, 100,000 feet (19 miles) above our planet's surface, for a trip that lasts six hours.

Customers have already bought up entire capsules for group events and some even want to have their weddings there, according to the firm, which started selling flights at the end of June.

Others may celebrate their milestone birthday aboard a capsule, the firm claims. Passengers will be able to feast their eyes on 360-degree views of Earth while inside the capsule, which comes complete with a bathroom, bar and on-board Wi-Fi.

In June, the company's test vehicle, Neptune One, successfully launched from the Space Coast Spaceport, adjacent to NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Space Perspective is led by husband and wife team Taber MacCallum and Jane Poynter and based in Florida, who recently spoke to the Observer about the interest they've received since flights went on sale.

Spaceflights for 2024 are sold out, but customers can still book their seat now for 2025, according to the firm's website.

Launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center and flown gently by a spaceballoon instead of rockets, a ride on the zero-emissions capsule offers 'the thrill of space and the comfort of calm', the firm claims. Space Perspective will be about relaxation – it will move at only 12 miles per hour during ascent and descent.

"It takes about two hours to get to the 30 km altitude. During the ascent you'll be able to see as far as 450 miles in every direction, so you'll see the entire Florida peninsula, the Bahamas down through the keys over into the Gulf of Mexico," Poynter said.

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Woman who Disappeared from Wisconsin More Than 6 Decades Ago Found Safe

A welcome sign stands at the entrance of the city of Reedsburg, Wis., in July 2020. (Erica Dynes/Reedsburg Times-Press via AP)
A welcome sign stands at the entrance of the city of Reedsburg, Wis., in July 2020. (Erica Dynes/Reedsburg Times-Press via AP)
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Woman who Disappeared from Wisconsin More Than 6 Decades Ago Found Safe

A welcome sign stands at the entrance of the city of Reedsburg, Wis., in July 2020. (Erica Dynes/Reedsburg Times-Press via AP)
A welcome sign stands at the entrance of the city of Reedsburg, Wis., in July 2020. (Erica Dynes/Reedsburg Times-Press via AP)

Sixty-two years ago, Audrey Backeberg disappeared from a small city in south-central Wisconsin after reportedly hitchhiking with her family’s babysitter and catching a bus to Indianapolis.
Nobody ever knew where she went or what happened to her.
All that changed last week when she was found alive and safe in another state, thanks to the fresh eyes from a deputy who took over the case in February.
Detective Isaac Hanson discovered an out-of-state arrest record that matched Backeberg, which triggered a series of investigative moves that led to finding her alive and safe in another state.
Turns out Backeberg chose to leave the town of Reedsburg on her own accord -- likely due to an abusive husband, The Associated Press quoted Hanson as saying.
“She’s happy, safe and secure; And just kind of lived under the radar for that long,” he said.
Hanson was assigned the case in late February and, after discovering the arrest record, he and other officials met with Backeberg’s family to see if they had a connection with that region. They also started digging through Backeberg's sister's Ancestry.com account, pulling census records, obituaries and marriage licenses from that region.
Within about two months, they found an address where a woman was living that Hanson said shared a lot of similarities with Backeberg, including date of birth and social security number. Hanson was able to get a deputy from that jurisdiction to go to the address. Ten minutes later, Backeberg, now in her 80's, called Hanson.
“It happened so fast," he said. "I was expecting the deputy to call me back and say, ‘Oh nobody answered the door.’ And I thought it was the deputy calling me, but it was actually her. And to be honest it was just a very casual conversation. I could sense that she obviously had her reasons for leaving.”
Most of the information he learned during that call he declined to share, saying that it was still important to Backeberg that she not be found.
“I think it overwhelmed her of course with the emotions that she had, having a deputy show up at her house and then kind of call her out and talk with her about what happened and kind of relive 62 years in 45 minutes,” he said.
Hanson described discovering her safe after more than six decades practically unheard of. And while he doesn't know what will happen next in terms of her family reconnecting, he said he was happy that she can reach out if she wants to.
“There's family living here, so she has my contact number if she ever wants to reach out or needs anything, any phone numbers of family members back here," he said. "Ultimately she kind of holds the cards for that.”