It’s perhaps a sooner possibility that we could travel to space for leisure than around the world as we did prior to the pandemic.
Back in 2019, the Gateway Foundation released plans for a cruise ship-style hotel, comprised of 24 modules connected by elevator shafts that make up a rotating wheel orbiting the Earth. They called it the Von Braun Station, and it was scheduled to be fully operational by 2027.
Fast forward to now, and Orbital Assembly Corporation has taken over. Run by former pilot John Blincow, they’ve given the hotel a new name; the Voyager Station.
During a recent interview with CNN Travel, Blincow explained that there had been some COVID-related delays, but construction on the space hotel should begin in 2026, making it a space reality by 2027, the initial deadline.
“We’re trying to make the public realise that this golden age of space travel is just around the corner. It’s coming. It’s coming fast,” said Blincow.
Recently released renderings of what the hotel might look like don’t stray too far to what a luxury hotel is down here on Earth, just with some additional out-of-this-world views.
Tim Alatorre, senior design architect at Orbital Assembly Corporation, wants to bring a slice of earth to space, via warm suits and chic bars in restaurants. Basically the opposite of what Hollywood movies show us spaceships look like.
But don’t worry, they’re not taking away the novelty of being in space. It’d be a pretty impossible thing to do, especially when you have planets, stars and comets going past your window. But the designers are also planning to serve tradition “space food” — like freeze-dried ice cream — in the hotel’s restaurant.
So, how does it work? The physics of this design is that the rotating wheel works to create simulated gravity. “The station rotates, pushing the contents of the station out to the perimeter of the station, much in the way that you can spin a bucket of water — the water pushes out into the bucket and stays in place,” Alatorre explains.
“Near the centre of the station there’s no artificial gravity, but as you move down the outside of the station, the feeling of gravity increases.”
For now, the space hotel isn’t advertising any room rates, but we can’t imagine it being cheap. Start saving, space enthusiasts!
It’s not the first space hotel currently in the works. Last month it was announced that a Houston-based Axiom Space is working towards launching the first-ever commercial space station in just three years time. The US $2 billion project is being overseen by Axiom Space co-founder Michael Suffredini, NASA’s former International Space Station (ISS) manager.
Working in tandem with a team of experts and astronauts, the company is planning for the space station, called ‘AxStation’ to serve as a research platform for government space agencies and commercial companies. But there are also plans for the station to include an out-of-this-world hotel, positioned some 400km above the Earth’s surface.
It’s said that French industrial architect Philippe Starck has agreed to design the guest rooms for these intergalactic tourists, which will feature “nest-like comfort” and jaw-dropping views of Earth, according to The Times. Wired also says the design will include “plush padded walls, panoramic windows, and color-changing LEDs”.
In an interview with The Times, Suffredini said: “Axiom was founded with the vision of a thriving home in space that benefits every human everywhere. We often hear that that is a very bold statement. It is.”
According to Robb Report, the plan is for Axiom to attach a crew module to the space station by 2024 (this will operate as the hotel), then expand to create a minimum of two additional modules, that will house a laboratory and manufacturing facility and a panoramic observatory. All of this is planned for completion in 2028.
There’s no telling yet exactly how much a stay onboard the space hotel would cost. But when you consider that a flight on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceshipTwo is estimated to cost US $250,000, while the cost for an astronaut to enjoy a 10-day stay on the ISS is rumoured to cost more than US $55 million, one could surely expect to pay a hefty fare.
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