Recently updated on October 4th, 2022 at 11:16 am
Dreaming of seeing the world again after the pandemic? One company has taken that literally, with plans to build the first space hotel – complete with divine views of the Earth. If you’re ready to stretch your legs after the lockdown, why not head to the greatest final frontier – outer space.
The first hotel in space
We first heard about the world’s first space hotel back in 2019, when American company, Gateway Foundation, created plans for a futuristic ship-style hotel that would orbit in space above Earth. Two years later, and those plans are set to become reality. The space hotel, named Voyager Station, will be built by Orbital Assembly Corporation. It’s expected to be completed by 2026 and ready for guests by 2027. With space tourism becoming a very real possibility in less than a decade, it’s never too early to start planning your otherworldly trip of a lifetime.
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What will it look like?
Forget the cold, sterile spaceships you’ve seen in movies. The design team behind the Voyager Station want to bring a luxury hotel to space. They’re envisioning cosy, warm rooms and villas, and lavish bars, restaurants and entertainment areas. Instead of the toilet vacuums and sleeping bags strapped to walls that astronauts of the past have used, you’ll get all the showers, toilets, and other amenities you’d expect in a luxury hotel on Earth. So you can snuggle up in your classic Earth-style bed, all while gazing at some rather heavenly views.
While you’ll have the creature comforts of home, you’ll still get the wow factor of space travel. In the restaurant, expect classic space food like Tang and freeze-dried ice cream, along with fresh food from bi-weekly deliveries. You’ll also get to have fun in the low gravity environment. The gym will have seven-metre high ceilings so you can run, jump and play like never before. There’s also plans for an ethereal water feature that defies the laws of physics with a curving flow of water. And if you don’t want to take the stairs? Simply jump off the balcony and land gently on the floor below!
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How will it work?
Set to be the largest man made structure in space when complete, Voyager Station will have a lot of moving parts. So how is it all going to operate? Firstly, the space hotel will be constructed in orbit using tele-robotics and automation. There will be 24 habitation modules built in a rotating wheel that will simulate gravity as it moves.
The Inner Ring will include a docking hub where passengers will board and disembark the spacecraft in a thrilling zero-gravity experience, while the Outer Ring will hold an access tube where guests can roam around freely. Below this, the Habitation Ring will house the guest areas like the restaurant, bar, gym, rooms and villas, where you can stay for a weekend, a month, or more.
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When can you visit the space hotel?
Space tourists have been waiting for their chance to get out of this world since 2004 when Richard Branson launched Virgin Galactic. Over 600 keen space fans have bought tickets to take a 90-minute suborbital trip into space on the VSS Unity, for a hefty $200,000 to $250,000 price tag. Since then, both Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space companies have announced plans to send tourists into space. But when will you be able to sleep at the first hotel in space?
The team behind Voyager Station have hinted at a future partnership with SpaceX’s StarShip system to help get the hotel into space, but for now, all we know is that they’re aiming to be open to guests by 2027. And the price? Voyager Station hasn’t advertised a room rate yet, but they hope that eventually, it will cost the equivalent of a trip to Disneyland. The team behind the space hotel even foresees a future where people live and work in space long-term. So if you’ve ever fancied yourself as a galactic explorer, it might be time to extend your travel bucket list to loftier heights – the golden age of space travel is almost here.
Would you visit the first hotel in space? Let us know in the comments below!