A Houston-based company said this week it plans to open the “first luxury hotel in space” by late 2021. Orion Span’s compact Aurora Station – at 35ft-by-14ft its interior will be comparable to that of a Gulfstream jet, the company said – is projected to accommodate four travelers and two crew members for 12-day stays 200 miles above the earth.
Guests will be charged $9.5m each, or about $791,666 a night. Refundable deposits of $80,000 can now be made online. The founder Frank Bunger – described by his own company as “a serial entrepreneur and technology start-up executive” – told Bloomberg: “We want to get people into space because it’s the final frontier for our civilization.”
In a press release, Orion Span said it would take “what was historically a 24-month training regimen to prepare travellers to visit a space station and streamline it to three months, at a fraction of the cost”. Customers would subsequently understand basic spaceflight, orbital mechanics and life in pressurized environments in space, the company said.
By Joe – Full Story at Joe.My.God