The Future of Space Tourism, with Taber MacCallum & Jane Poynter (Space Perspective)

Pathfinder

Space travel is about to get a lot more accessible. At least, that’s what Space Perspective cofounders and co-CEOs Taber MacCallum and Jane Poynter are saying. The company’s aim is to provide the quintessential astronaut experience to as many people as possible, focusing not on the rocket ride or microgravity, but on the view of Earth from space.

In today’s Pathfinder podcast, Mo chats with both Taber and Jane from Space Perspective’s HQ near Cape Canaveral, FL. They discuss:

• Taber and Jane’s life’s work supporting crewed spacecraft
• The origins of Space Perspective
• The importance of seeing Earth from above
• The advantages of balloon-based tourism
• Space Perspective vs. competitors
• The future of space tourism
• And much more…

And much more…

This episode is brought to you by SpiderOak, a US-based software company that builds space cybersecurity products and solutions for civilian, military, and commercial space operations. Learn more at https://spideroak.com/

• Chapters •

00:00 - Intro and SpiderOak Ad

01:15 - Space Perspective overview

08:22 - Taber & Jane's background

16:53 - The conceptual beginnings of Space Perspective

21:05 - Safety systems

25:24 - SpiderOak Ad Break

26:30 - Pricing, target market, target customer

30:50 - First commercial flight?

32:02 - The feeling of weightlessness

33:20 - Handling anxious clients

36:02 - Launch logistics

39:40 - Advantages of launching from a ship

41:00- Regulatory considerations

43:10 - The long-term vision

44:30 - A pioneer in the space industry

48:15 - StratEx launch

54:45 - Who are you taking to space?

• Show notes •

Space Perspective's website — https://spaceperspective.com/

Space Perspective's socials — https://twitter.com/SpacePerspectiv

Dr. Robert Zubrin on "Why Mars?" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S6k2LBJhac

Mo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislam

Payload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace

Pathfinder archive — Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@payloadspace Pathfinder archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/episodes

• About us •

Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 15,000+ commercial, civil, and military space leaders. Payload is read by decision-makers at every leading new space company, along with c-suite leaders at all of the aerospace & defense primes. We’re also read on Capitol Hill, in the Pentagon, and at space agencies around the world. Payload began as a weekly email sent to a few friends and coworkers.

Today, we’re a team distributed across four time zones and two continents, publishing three media properties across multiple platforms: 1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, sends M-F @ 9am Eastern (https://newsletter.payloadspace.com/) 2) Pathfinder publishes weekly on Tuesday mornings (pod.payloadspace.com) 3) Polaris, our weekly policy publication, hits inboxes Tuesday (https://polaris.payloadspace.com/) 4) Parallax, our weekly space science briefing, hits inboxes Thursday (https://parallax.payloadspace.com/)