The rich and famous look for the most exotic places to spend their vacations. Orbital
Technologies, a Russian company, has announced plans to make one of the most exotic
hotel ever. Their idea to create a space hotel for commercial use is both metaphorically and
literally out of this world.
The hotel, officially called Commercial Space Station, will be able to accommodate seven
guests in four cabins. It will orbit the earth at a height of 350 kilometers above the earth’s
surface. Guests will be able to relax in zero-gravity and can pass the time by watching TV,
surfing the web, or sleeping (both horizontally and vertically). There will be no flowing water
which means washing will be done using wet wipes and even the toilets will carry waste via
flowing air. The waste water and air will all be filtered and recycled in the satellite and then
reused by the occupants of the hotel. The food will be prepared on Earth and freeze-dried
before being sent up to the hotel. Another drawback (for most customers) is the prohibition of
the consumption of alcohol in the hotel.
The vacation has only one standard package costing close to a million dollars. This package
consists of a 5 day stay in the Commercial Space Station and the two day trip to and from the
Space Station via a Soyuz rocket. According to Orbital Technologies, development of the hotel
is underway and it will be ready for launch by 2016. Below are computer generated images of
the project: