A balloon ride to the stratosphere in great comfort

[NEW YORK] And now, a high-altitude adventure for the leisure class, people who do not want to be jostled as they sip champagne and gaze down at earth's curved blue surface.

A new space tourism company named World View yesterday unveiled its plans to loft passengers to the stratosphere as early as 2015, not by rocket but by giant balloon. Price: US$75,000. (Drinks included.)

World View is led by the same people involved in Inspiration Mars, a private endeavour to launch two people in 2018 to a flyby of the red planet.