Russian company announced its plan to open a space hotel on the orbit by 2016. The facility should accommodate up to seven guests.
Today Russia is the only country that can deliver people to the orbit. The lack of competition is seen by many experts as a good opportunity for Russia to develop space tourism. Recently, a Russian company announced plans to build a unique space hotel on the orbit for up to seven guests.
The developers believe that they will open the space hotel for the first tourists in 2016. They also stated that hotel will be much more comfortable than the International Space Station. The tourists in weightlessness will be able to choose the position of their bed – vertical or horizontal.
Food will be delivered from the earth, and warmed up in microwave ovens. The project developers plan to abandon the lyophilized (dried) food in tubes and to replace it with delicacies such as braised veal with mushrooms, mashed white beans, potato soup and plum compote. The guests will also have available ice tea, mineral water and fruit juice; however alcohol will be strictly prohibited.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that such a space trip will be very expensive. For five-day stay in orbit hotel tourists will have to pay around USD 170 000, plus at least another USD 800 000 for the shuttle transfer to the hotel. With no doubt the fare could further rise due to increased cost of fuel, which is so common in civil aviation.