NASA astronaut Ron Garan floats in the International Space Station's Cupola during his 2011 stint in orbit. (Credit: NASA)
NASA astronaut Ron Garan floats in the International Space Station’s Cupola in 2011. (Credit: NASA)

Former astronaut Ron Garan has a new vantage point for sharing what he calls “the Orbital Perspective”: his position as chief pilot for World View Enterprises.

Arizona-based World View wants to give passengers a near-space experience, by sending them up in a pressurized capsule that’s lofted to heights beyond 100,000 feet by a high-altitude balloon. During a leisurely ascent to the atmosphere, passengers would get a space-like view of the Earth below, with the black arc of space above. Then the capsule would be cut loose from the balloon for a parachute-assisted descent and landing.

Cost for the trip? $75,000.

Garan told GeekWire that his job will be to ensure the “safe accomplishment of all aspects” of flight – not only for the passenger flights in the future, but for the remote-controlled flights that are going on now.

“As exciting as it is to take a crewed capsule to the edge of space, we’re also excited about all the other aspects. … It’s exciting because it’s opening up a whole new industry,” Garan said. The potential applications include long-term reconnaissance, weather monitoring, scientific studies of the upper atmosphere and on-the-fly communication networks for disaster response.

Garan’s a highly decorated Air Force fighter pilot and test pilot who became an astronaut in 2000. He first flew to the International Space Station in 2008, and returned to the station for a five-month stint in 2011.

One of the people who persuaded Garan to join the World View team was Mark Kelly, the former NASA astronaut who is now the company’s director of flight operations. Like Kelly, Garan retired from NASA after the shuttle fleet’s retirement.

Since he retired, Garan has been involved in several social entrepreneurial ventures aimed at using the orbital perspective (a.k.a. the Overview Effect) to help people focus on the challenges facing our planet. Those ventures include the Fragile Oasis website, his “Orbital Perspective” book and an upcoming documentary film titled “Orbital.” Now Garan has moved to Arizona and says World View will be his top priority.

“The good news is that the World View mission is aligned with my own personal mission,” he said. “World View is called ‘World View’ for a reason, because the DNA of this company is that we believe we can have a transformative effect by seeing the planet from this vantage point.”

Garan said he’s already started training for his pilot duties by “jumping out of an airplane with a steerable parachute on my back.” Eventually, he’ll be the one guiding a much bigger parachute and its attached capsule to a safe landing during test flights.

When will piloted flights begin? In the past, World View has said passenger service could begin as early as 2017 from Spaceport Tucson, but Garan emphasized that the timetable depends on the progress of the test program.

“It’s almost impossible to predict that, because we’re doing something that’s never been done before. … What I will say is that things are moving really fast,” he said.

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