The world's first space lounges have 1.5-metre-high panoramic windows and interactive information screens. Photo: Space Perspective
The world's first space lounges have 1.5-metre-high panoramic windows and interactive information screens. Photo: Space Perspective
The world's first space lounges have 1.5-metre-high panoramic windows and interactive information screens. Photo: Space Perspective
The world's first space lounges have 1.5-metre-high panoramic windows and interactive information screens. Photo: Space Perspective

World’s first space lounges have reclining seats, 360-degree views and an upcycled bar


Hayley Skirka
  • English
  • Arabic

Adventure travellers can get a glimpse of what a trip to the edge of the Earth will look like when flying with luxury spaceflight operator Space Perspective.

The company has released images of the world’s first space lounges, complete with reclining chairs, in-flight dining and 360-degree views that will allow tourists to take in the planet from new heights.

Taking place inside pressurised capsules propelled by a floating space balloon, Space Perspective's explorer journeys will be launched in 2024 and will fly tourists to the edge of the stratosphere.

Each of the Spaceship Neptune capsules can accommodate up to eight guests and one pilot on the cruise-like journey. The lounge-style pods have deep, reclining chairs set up to take in the views from 1.5-metre-high panoramic windows — the biggest ever flown to the edge of the Earth.

Pods have customisable seating, lighting, soundtracks and in-flight dining. Photo: Space Perspective / Facebook
Pods have customisable seating, lighting, soundtracks and in-flight dining. Photo: Space Perspective / Facebook

Arced seating can be configured for group events or romantic dinner flights for couples and the set-up means that passengers have plenty of space to stretch their legs and stand comfortably during the six-hour journey. The seats can even be set up to accommodate a wedding ceremony.

Sleek purple tones and subdued mood lighting create a soothing atmosphere, assisted by lavender, basil and rosemary plants dotted around the cabin. Passengers can also customise the soundtracks that will play in each capsule, allowing space tourists to cruise along to the sounds of their favourite artists.

A 'Spaceship Neptune' capsule floats above Florida. Photo: Space Perspective / AFP
A 'Spaceship Neptune' capsule floats above Florida. Photo: Space Perspective / AFP

Sensors in the capsule will track key elements of the journey and display them on ticker screens, and passengers can also use individual interactive screens to find out more details about their stratospheric jaunt.

Interior surfaces in the swish cabins are dark and tactile to reduce reflection and glare in the windows, helping space explorers take perfect photographs of their trip. There’s also free Wi-Fi so that guests can live-stream their experience on social media.

A fully-stocked bar made from recycled materials is located in each pod, ideal for toasts at the edge of the Earth. There’s also in-flight dining, and the menu can be customised by travellers before their trips.

For anyone who might not be able to wait to get back to Earth for a toilet break, a sleek bathroom is fitted in each capsule and comes with a huge window so that you don’t miss the otherworldly views at any time during your flight.

  • Tourists will soar to 100,000 feet (30,500 metres) in the space lounges and be rewarded with 360-degree views of Earth below
    Tourists will soar to 100,000 feet (30,500 metres) in the space lounges and be rewarded with 360-degree views of Earth below
  • Space Perspective will launch explorer flights in 2025. All photos: Space Perspective
    Space Perspective will launch explorer flights in 2025. All photos: Space Perspective
  • An upcycled bar is located in each of the 'Spaceship Neptune' cabins
    An upcycled bar is located in each of the 'Spaceship Neptune' cabins
  • Seats on the world's first luxury space flight cost $495,000 per person, for a six-hour journey, with more than 1,000 tickets already sold
    Seats on the world's first luxury space flight cost $495,000 per person, for a six-hour journey, with more than 1,000 tickets already sold
  • 'Spaceship Neptune' capsules will accommodate up to eight passengers and will feature reclining chairs, panoramic windows and anti-glare technology to allow for picture-taking opportunities
    'Spaceship Neptune' capsules will accommodate up to eight passengers and will feature reclining chairs, panoramic windows and anti-glare technology to allow for picture-taking opportunities
  • Lifted into the air via a balloon larger than a football field, 'Spaceship Neptune' will be able to launch from ocean-based spaceports
    Lifted into the air via a balloon larger than a football field, 'Spaceship Neptune' will be able to launch from ocean-based spaceports
  • Space adventurers can secure their place now for a deposit of $1,000
    Space adventurers can secure their place now for a deposit of $1,000

After taking off from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, the space balloon will soar from the launch pad to about 45,000 feet (13,716 metres), higher than most commercial aircraft. From there, the mammoth airship will travel upwards to 75,000 feet (23,000 metres), a slice of the atmosphere usually reserved for spy planes.

It will reach its ascent at 100,000 feet (30,500 metres) above Earth, where the football-sized balloon will hover for about two hours, giving passengers plenty of time to drink in the 360-degree views of the planet.

The first flights are planned for 2024, and tickets for a seat on one of the balloons cost upwards of $125,000. Reservations can be secured now with a $1,000 deposit, although flights are already fully booked until 2025.

How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE

When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.

Brolliology: A History of the Umbrella in Life and Literature
By Marion Rankine
Melville House

PROFILE OF HALAN

Started: November 2017

Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga

Based: Cairo, Egypt

Sector: transport and logistics

Size: 150 employees

Investment: approximately $8 million

Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar

The President's Cake

Director: Hasan Hadi

Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem 

Rating: 4/5

Opening Rugby Championship fixtures:Games can be watched on OSN Sports
Saturday: Australia v New Zealand, Sydney, 1pm (UAE)
Sunday: South Africa v Argentina, Port Elizabeth, 11pm (UAE)

Quick pearls of wisdom

Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”

Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.” 

In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
  • Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000 
  • Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000 
  • Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000 
  • Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000 
  • HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000 
  • Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000 
  • Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000 
  • Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000 
  • Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000 
  • Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000 
  • Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000 
  • Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
  • Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
  • Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000

Astroworld
Travis Scott
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Avatar: Fire and Ash

Director: James Cameron

Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

Rating: 4.5/5

Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015

- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
Director: Venkat Prabhu
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UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

SERIE A FIXTURES

Friday Sassuolo v Torino (Kick-off 10.45pm UAE)

Saturday Atalanta v Sampdoria (5pm),

Genoa v Inter Milan (8pm),

Lazio v Bologna (10.45pm)

Sunday Cagliari v Crotone (3.30pm) 

Benevento v Napoli (6pm) 

Parma v Spezia (6pm)

 Fiorentina v Udinese (9pm)

Juventus v Hellas Verona (11.45pm)

Monday AC Milan v AS Roma (11.45pm)

Cricket World Cup League Two

Teams

Oman, UAE, Namibia

Al Amerat, Muscat

 

Results

Oman beat UAE by five wickets

UAE beat Namibia by eight runs

Namibia beat Oman by 52 runs

UAE beat Namibia by eight wickets

 

Fixtures

Saturday January 11 - UAE v Oman

Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia

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The specs

Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel

Power: 579hp

Torque: 859Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh825,900

On sale: Now

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Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

BORDERLANDS

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis

Director: Eli Roth

Rating: 0/5

ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA

Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi

Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser

Rating: 4.5/5

VEZEETA PROFILE

Date started: 2012

Founder: Amir Barsoum

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: HealthTech / MedTech

Size: 300 employees

Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)

Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC

GOLF’S RAHMBO

- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)

Updated: April 22, 2022, 1:40 PM