World View Launches Inaugural Stratollite Mission from Spaceport Tucson
World View is thrilled to announce the successful execution of its first ever Stratollite launch from Spaceport Tucson.
This milestone launch signals the operational opening of the global hub for commerce and science in the stratosphere – Spaceport Tucson. “Spaceport Tucson, the first-ever, purpose-built stratospheric launch facility in the world, is now open for business,” said Jane Poynter, founder and CEO of World View, which operates the facility on behalf of Pima County. “The FAA recently provided a Certificate of Authorization to World View to launch Stratollite missions from Spaceport Tucson.
It features an immense launch pad measuring 700 feet in diameter – about the area of six football fields – and is ideal for launching high-altitude balloons. We salute Pima County, the city of Tucson and the State of Arizona for their vision in bringing this first commercial gateway to the stratosphere to life. It’s no-doubt destined to play an important role in attracting new commercial space business to Tucson and the southwestern U.S. We are proud to call Spaceport Tucson our home and primary launch site.”
This mission was another important milestone in World View’s series of Stratollite development and demonstration missions. The Stratollite is poised to open an entirely new economy in the stratosphere. It’s the first steerable and persistent, long-duration stratospheric payload-carrying vehicle, combining many of the benefits of geo-stationary satellites, low Earth orbit satellites, and high-altitude drones with entirely new capabilities, all at a fraction of the cost of those technologies. This critical first mission from Spaceport Tucson allowed the World View team to perfect launch protocol from its home base of operations.
About World View® Enterprises, Inc.
World View’s innovative flight technologies offer a unique perspective of Earth from the edge of space. World View delivers meaningful insights to enterprises, agencies, and individuals via two primary business segments: Stratollite un-crewed flight systems and Voyager human spaceflight systems. Stratollites, in operation today, offer low-cost, long-duration, persistent high-altitude flight for enterprise and government agencies. Using advanced stratospheric balloon technology, Stratollite applications include communications, remote sensing, weather, and research. The Voyager human spaceflight experience is under development and will launch in the near future, offering private citizens a comfortable, safe, and perspective-changing voyage to the edge of space via high-altitude balloon. To learn more about World View, visit www.WorldView.space.
