A Ride In This Epic 'Space Balloon' Costs Over $150,000

Zero2Infinity, a Spanish startup, has entered the space race...with a balloon.

Or a "bloon," to be more specific. And, unlike Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip2, the race is to "near space," not outer space, something Jose Mariano Lopez-Urdiales, the company's CEO, argues is even better.

"It's not about the prestige, it's the view from up high that people want to see," Lopez-Urdiales told The Daily Mail. "There will be many people who will want to go on the trip."

Near space is generally defined as the area between 65,000 and 325,000 feet (20 and 100 kilometers) above sea level, and lies between airspace and outer space.