Space hotel taking bookings for 2012 opening

[GrnMarvl14]

Source w/pictures and video.

(PhysOrg.com) -- The first orbiting space hotel is on track to open for its first customers in 2012, but hurry, as bookings are filling fast.

The cost of three nights on the Galactic Suite Space Resort (plus a two-month training course on a Caribbean island beforehand) will be $4.4 million US. At least 43 people have already reserved their place, with over 200 expressing an interest.

Guests would circumnavigate the globe every 80 minutes and see the sun rise 15 times a day. They would get around their "pod" rooms by wearing Velcro suits that stick them to the walls to enable them to crawl.

CEO of the Barcelona-based company Galactic Suite Ltd, Xavier Claramunt, said the hotel would make his company a leader in the fledgling industry, which he believes has a great future, with space tourism becoming commonplace. Claramunt, formerly an aerospace engineer, said that within perhaps only 15 years, it could be quite normal to spend a weekend in space.

The Galactic Suite Space Resort plans to start with one pod holding four passengers and two astronaut pilots. The pod would orbit 280 miles (450 km) above the earth and travel at 18,640 mph (30,000 kph). Passengers would take a day and a half to reach the pod by Russian-built rocket, after blasting off from a spaceport on a Caribbean island. The rocket would dock with the pod for their entire stay to give the guests a sense of security. At the end of their stay the passengers would return to the rocket for the trip back to earth.

Claramunt said the project had received an anonymous grant of $3 billion given to the company by a space enthusiast billionaire. Critics have questioned the timeframe, but the company is confident it is on track for the 2012 opening.

Another space tourism project under construction is Spaceport America, being built in Mexico. This will be the first facility for space flights for commercial and private passengers. Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson's space tour company will offer rides to suborbital space from the spaceport for $200,000. Bookings are pouring in, with 300 people already having signed up or paid in advance.

Space tourism's not that new anymore, but the idea of building a space station solely to serve as a hotel is definitely new. And interesting, if not extremely expensive. Now if only we could build that lunar colony...the future would be now.

Anyone willing to loan $4.4 million?

 

[Mitchman]

I guess you could say that the hotel is so high in the sky....you can live there if the Earth is destroyed. YYYYYYEEEEEEAAAAHHHHHHH!

 

[GrnMarvl14]

It IS opening in 2012. Right on time.

 

[Falconwing]

Glad to know out money is going somewhere useful.

 

[GrnMarvl14]

Glad to know out money is going somewhere useful.

Whose money? This is a private company. Unless you're a shareholder or potential client, this has zero effect on you. Just part of the burgeoning space industry. It's quite big.

 

[X Dragoon]

Let's just hope this goes well. It'd be nice to live in a space hotel...yet, it'd be terrifying.

 

[Flare Blitz]

lol GALACTIC Suite Space Resort and the fact it's coming out in 2012.

xD

 

[Somari]

What the cupcake..

This..Is..Weird. And pretty stupid actually.

 

[GrnMarvl14]

What the cupcake..

This..Is..Weird. And pretty stupid actually.

Why? Because of the massive amount of money required to both build, staff, and "rent a room" or because one meteor in the wrong spot and the entire thing's likely sunk?

 

[Falconwing]

Why? Because of the massive amount of money required to both build, staff, and "rent a room" or because one meteor in the wrong spot and the entire thing's likely sunk?

Um, both.

 

[P N N K]

They should use the technology to make a colony on Mars instead.

 

[Lil Brother]

Anyone else think of 2001: A Space Odyssey right off the bat?

If I had that kind of money to waste, I'd totally do it.

 

[Kamen_Fanatic]

Yeah, I'm with you on that one. On both on your statements.

 

[Silverwynde]

If I had the money, I would totally take a vacation there.
Okay we're building space hotels, now all we need are the robot maids to keep the place clean.

 

[Luna Tiger]

I 'meh' the whole article. But the thing that jumped out at me was:

Another space tourism project under construction is Spaceport America, being built in Mexico.

....I really hope that means "America" as a whole (North/South/Central) and not just the general America label no one but US citizens claim as their own.

 

[System Error]

The guy is probably crazy. IMO, whoever runs it is probably the kind of person to claim he's going to colonize Saturn with a race of morally correct affluent people ruled by him, but he'll probably just use money from the hotel for building his own palace in Hawaii.

 

[GrnMarvl14]

The guy is probably crazy. IMO, whoever runs it is probably the kind of person to claim he's going to colonize Saturn with a race of morally correct affluent people ruled by him, but he'll probably just use money from the hotel for building his own palace in Hawaii.

It's hardly anything new. Russia's been making money off rich people wanting to go to space. Why not private industry? Hardly an insane thing when there are people lining up to go to space for a visit.

And of course the owner will use the money for his own purposes. It's a HOTEL. It's not some cultist colony. It's MEANT to make money. That's WHY people build hotels. Not like it's a space hostel.

Okay we're building space hotels, now all we need are the robot maids to keep the place clean.

I believe they have those in Japan. Or are working on them (so many robot stories. Hard to keep them all straight).

....I really hope that means "America" as a whole (North/South/Central) and not just the general America label no one but US citizens claim as their own.

Actually, it appears that the story's incorrect. It's NEW Mexico. Per the corporate website.

 

[Koji-Kun]

Wow, this is cool. Right on time for the end of the world. Guess the ones at this hotel will be our only earth's survivors... haha.

 

[Pidgeot]

I was going to say that...

 

[Dorothy]

Anyone else think of 2001: A Space Odyssey right off the bat?

If I had that kind of money to waste, I'd totally do it.

More like Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.

Is the hotel Vermacious Knid-proof?