First, Virgin Galactic offered a short trip in weightlessness, then Boeing offered longer trips into space, and now, a Russian firm has announced the world’s first space hotel, specifically designed for space tourists.
By 2016, Orbital Technologies intends to launch a 7-room hotel into orbit, and may increase or decrease capacity depending on demand. The hotel may also double as a holding place for additional scientists and cosmonauts making their way to the International Space Station.
Chief Executive Officer of Orbital, Sergey Kostenko, said that the planned station would be “a comfortable hotel in orbit, designed specifically for tourists…more comfortable than the International Space Station because there won’t be any unnecessary scientific equipment,” he said.
Canadian Guy Laliberté, Cirque du Soleil founder, was the most recent space tourist, having spent 12 days in space in September 2009. Since then, Russia halted the space tourist program in order to accommodate an increasing number of space crew members.