Forget about freeze-dried space meals and their aftertaste. One of the first luxury space tourism companies is offering on-board meals in the stratosphere for $495,000 per person. Now they just have to find a group of six people to pay for the most expensive meal in history, on Earth or in space.
SpaceVIP has enlisted chef Rasmus Munk, whose restaurant Alchemist in Copenhagen has received two Michelin stars since 2020, to create some of its most impressive dishes and serve as a steward aboard the space balloon. Space Perspective’s Neptune spacecraft can accommodate eight passengers and a captain. In honor of the event, the “astronauts” will wear clothes specially designed by Ogier. Think sleek spacesuit.
Space Perspective plans to begin crewed test flights by the end of this year, with commercial flights beginning in 2025. The company recently received the Neptune spacecraft capsule and will begin test flights using its spacecraft in the next six weeks. Their ship, MS Voyager, will be used as a command center that will launch and recover airplanes from the waters off Florida’s east coast. Space Perspective is headquartered at NASA’s Cape Canaveral Complex.
The six-hour flight will take the capsule at speeds of up to 12 mph to an altitude of about 100,000 feet, where participants will be able to see the Florida Peninsula. A company spokesperson said the food would be served when the sun rises above the Earth’s surface. In-flight Wi-Fi will allow guests to report live on their flights.
Monk, who specializes in what he calls holistic cuisine, will prepare a series of dishes “inspired by space exploration over the last 60 years of human history.” Beyond the joy of cooking, the meal is intended to stimulate discussion about humanity’s role in protecting the planet. “I want to emphasize that food is a common thread in our human existence, and serving it given the curvature of the Earth would be really meaningful,” the chef said in a statement.
Munch was passionate about space since childhood and became interested in space after observing the stars in the Copenhagen Planetarium. In fact, the Alchemist has a large planetarium that allows its guests to dine inside a human body, surrounded by projections of underwater marine life or, fittingly, while looking at the curvature of the Earth.
“This mission aims to redefine not only private exploration, but also the essence of fine dining,” SpaceVIP founder Roman Chepurukha said in a statement.
If the cost of travel seems expensive, it is expensive. A typical seat in the Space Perspective capsule costs about $150,000. SpaceVIP said it would donate proceeds from the flight to finance the Space Prize, which the company established to promote women in STEM education and gender equality in the space economy.
A SpaceVIP spokesperson said mission dates have not yet been determined, but it should take place sometime next year. Presumably, the company also needs to find seven food lovers with open minds and deep pockets.
