A different approach to space tourism just got a Silicon Valley boost. CNBC has learned that World View Enterprises, which sends equipment to the edge of space using high-altitude balloons, closed its latest round of venture capital funding with $26.5 million at a valuation of at least $84 million -- more than double its last valuation. The funding, led by prominent tech investor Accel, will bring it closer to its long term goal: using balloons to get people close to space. "This is a really key milestone for us, as our focus on the moment is on the Stratollite," World View co-founder and CEO Jane Poynter told CNBC, referring to the high-altitude balloon it uses to make long flights above specific spots on the Earth. "It's a brand new vehicle that we're bringing to market that no one else has."

World View conducted its inaugural Stratollite launch from Spaceport Tucson on Sunday, October 1st, 2017 World View | Steven Meckler

World View intends to use what it learns from Stratollite to launch people in another balloon-lifted craft called Voyager. "We will be flying people in the future but I'd like us to have 100 or more Stratollite flights under our belt first," Poynter said. Stratollite can fly commercial payloads the size of a small bus to 150,000 feet of altitude, making it possible to quickly and steadily provide services such as weather forecasting, military surveillance or disaster recovery. World View believes its technology stands apart from "cubesats," the tiny satellites that are the fastest-growing part of the $250 billion satellite industry, because Stratollite can stay in one place for a long time -- making it capable of "persistence monitoring." "You need an entire constellation of cubesats with the same instruments on it to get [persistent coverage]," Poynter said. "We could put it over the eye of a hurricane, giving a continuous video monitor of that location on Earth." Stratollite completed nine commercial flights last year, Poynter said. With "more customers than we can service right now" on the company's manifest, Poynter said Straollite will be flying even more often in 2018. This year World View aims to complete flights that last "one or two months," Poynter said – far beyond the company's record of a five-day flight, set last year. Its successor, Voyager, is intended to fly up to eight people for over five hours to the edge of space in a capsule complete with massive windows to enjoy the view. While Poynter declined to offer a time frame for Voyager's first flight, the company is offering tickets for $75,000 each, after a $7,500 deposit.

World View's December launchpad explosion

The investment comes after a mid-December a tear in a World View balloon, which caused an explosion felt throughout much of Tucson, Arizona. Poynter insisted that the "explosion did not delay" World View's operations "by even one iota." While investors asked about it, it didn't hurt the fund-raising effort. "It was a demonstration flight but not for Stratollite," Poynter said. "It was a different customer I can't speak about, as I'm under a [non disclosure agreement]."