In advance of her anticipated official christening, the world’s first marine spaceport for human spaceflight, “MS Voyager” took her place on the Guice Offshore fleet roster during January 2024.
To see complete specs on Voyager, click on her Web page here.
Powerful and majestic, “MS Voyager” is an extensively customized 294 ft x 56 ft Dynamically Positioned Class 2 platform supply vessel that will support the launch of Space Perspective’s “Spaceship Neptune,” the world’s first carbon-neutral spaceship. Carrying civilian “Explorers,” Spaceship Neptune will be lifted from Voyager’s expansive deck and propelled to the edge of space by a giant SpaceBalloon™.
Based near Cape Canaveral, Space Perspective is the first global space travel experience company. Guice Offshore, known worldwide for its years of experience with aerospace marine recovery, will provide all support for Space Perspective’s marine operations.
Voyager features Caterpillar 3516 engines, berthing for 42, multiple offices, lounges and a hospital, along with a large A-Frame and telescoping deck crane. She is ABS-classed, USCG certified Subchapter I, circle E and unrestricted ocean service for domestic and international operations.
Voyager, which will operate out of Port Canaveral, is currently in the final stages of being outfitted for launch, retrieval, and SpaceBalloon™ operations at Conrad Shipyard — preparations for which were provided by Gulf Ship. In keeping with Space Perspective’s environmentally conscious ethos, emissions offsets have been provided by Cool Effects, and the vessel itself is being retrofitted to use biofuel to reduce its carbon footprint.
When it’s time to come back to Earth at the end of the journey in Spaceship Neptune’s pressurized capsule, a patented splashcone at its base provides a smooth and gentle water landing. Fast boats from Fluid Watercraft will then arrive to stabilize the capsule, which will be lifted onto the Voyager by a custom-built A-frame provided by Supreme Integrated Technologies.
First in a Fleet of Ships to Be Converted into Marine Spaceports, Guice Offshore’s MS Voyager Clears a Path for Space Perspective to Expand Internationally
Spaceports are sites for launching and receiving spacecraft. Now, with the capacity to launch from marine-based sites around the world, in addition to launching from land on Florida’s Space Coast, Space Perspective becomes the first global space travel experience company, offering safe and sustainable journeys to the edge of space.
As the first in a planned fleet of this new class of marine spaceports globally, Voyager was named in homage to the Voyager 1 Space Probe mission which, on astronomer Carl Sagan’s request, took a photo of Earth from across the solar system on February 14th, 1990. That photo, now known ironically as the “Pale Blue Dot,” inspired Sagan’s book of the same name and his call for humans to “preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known”–words that reverberate through Space Perspective’s mission today.
“Space Perspective will change your relationship with our planet by providing the quintessential astronaut experience of viewing Earth from the blackness of space,” said Jane Poynter, Space Perspective’s Founder and Co-CEO. “It’s imperative for us to think about our business with a global mindset. Removing geographic borders for launch and landing accelerates our mission of making this transformative experience more accessible to the world and international marketplace–safely, reliably and with minimal impact on our planet.”
Plans are underway to integrate marine-based launches into marquee global events, and conversations are active with several potential destinations across the globe to offer Explorers an awe-inspiring view of some of the world’s most iconic geography.
“We always imagined offering the opportunity to view the most incredible natural phenomena from space, including the Northern Lights, the boot of Italy, the sheer scale of the Nile Delta, and the deep blue seas around the Bahamas. Marine Spaceports like MS Voyager make this a reality,” said Poynter.
MS Voyager and future Space Perspective Marine Spaceports give the company the operational flexibility needed to grow its business more quickly to reach a supply-constrained global market for commercial space travel that analysts recently estimated could reach over $8 billion by 2030[1].
Marine Spaceports create ideal launch conditions in two ways: by navigating to areas of good weather, which allows for year-round operations within a region, and by moving with the sea breeze, so there is virtually no wind across the deck. This enables more frequent launch opportunities, as well as more options for the time of day, including sunrise and sunset nighttime stargazing flights for Explorers.
“This is another important milestone and a proud moment for the Space Perspective crew both in terms of pioneering engineering and the ability to scale our offer quickly, globally. We are grateful to our extended crew of dynamic, best-in-class operational partners,” said Space Perspective’s Founder, Co-CEO and CTO Taber MacCallum.
