Space vacations are going for $9.5 million at the first luxury hotel in the stars
The price of space tourism just got a lot cheaper, but it’s still pretty ex-orbit-ant.
The world’s first few “space tourists” have traditionally had to pay $20 million or more to the Russian government for a seat aboard the International Space Station, according to CNN. Space.com reported the price tag could even blast off to as high as $40 million for that coveted outer space vacation.
But on Thursday, a company called Orion Span announced that it would build and operate the world’s first “luxury space hotel,” to be completed in late 2021. It’s called Aurora Station, and it could host its first space tourists in 2022, for the bargain basement price of $9.5 million.
That’s the price for a 12-day space vacation, according to the company’s public relations firm. Reservations four years in advance will cost space travelers $80,000 apiece.
The private outpost in the stars will orbit Earth at about 200 miles and accommodate four paying guests and two crew members at a time. Newsweek reported that the space station would complete an orbit every 90 minutes, meaning travelers will get to see 16 sunrises and sunsets every day.
As demand grows for space travel, Orion Span is already planning for the inevitable “no vacancy” situation.
“When we reach capacity, we simply launch another of the same space station and attach it on Aurora Station’s radial hub,” Frank Bunger, CEO and founder of Orion Span, wrote on the company blog.
But that’s not all.
The company says it wants to expand on the hotel concept and make Jetsons out of mere earthlings.
“We will also sell space condos — your own capacity aboard Aurora Station and future space stations to visit, sublease or one day live in as you wish,” Bunger wrote.
Houston-based Axiom Space also wants to bring a privatized space station into orbit even before Orion Span’s, but the company plans to use its commercial space station as a manufacturing hub. Bigelow Aerospace wants to do the same by 2020 and use its private space station for moon exploration.
This story was originally published April 6, 2018 at 11:07 AM with the headline "Space vacations are going for $9.5 million at the first luxury hotel in the stars."