Space hotel to be opened by 2012
"Galactic Suite", the first hotel planned in space, expects to
open for business in 2012 and would allow guests to travel around
the world in 80 minutes.
Its Barcelona-based architects say the space hotel will be the most
expensive in the galaxy, costing $4 million for a three-day
stay.
During that time guests would see the sun rise 15 times a day and
use Velcro suits to crawl around their pod rooms by sticking
themselves to the walls like Spiderman.
Company director Xavier Claramunt says the three-bedroom boutique
hotel's joined up pod structure, which makes it look like a model
of molecules, was dictated by the fact that each pod room had to
fit inside a rocket to be taken into space.
"It's the bathrooms in zero gravity that are the biggest
challenge," says Claramunt.
"How to accommodate the more intimate activities of the guests
is not easy."
But they may have solved the issue of how to take a shower in
weightlessness - the guests will enter a spa room in which bubbles
of water will float around.
When guests are not admiring the view from their portholes they
will take part in scientific experiments on space travel.
Galactic Suite began as a hobby for former aerospace engineer
Claramunt, until a space enthusiast decided to make the science
fiction fantasy a reality by fronting most of the $3 billion needed
to build the hotel.
An American company intent on colonising Mars, which sees Galaxy
Suite as a first step, has since come on board, and private
investors from Japan, the United States and the United Arab
Emirates are in talks.
Plenty rich enough
If Claramunt is secretive about the identity of his generous
backer, he is more forthcoming about the custom he can
expect.
"We have calculated that there are 40,000 people in the world who
could afford to stay at the hotel. Whether they will want to spend
money on going into space, we just don't know."
Four million dollars might be a lot to spend on a holiday, but
those in the nascent space tourism industry say hoteliers have been
slow on the uptake because no one thought the cost of space travel
would come down as quickly as it has.
Galactic Suite said the price included not only three nights in
space.
Guests also get eight weeks of intensive training at a James
Bond-style space camp on a tropical island.
"There is fear associated with going into space," said
Claramunt.
"That's why the shuttle rocket will remain fixed to the space
hotel for the duration of the guests' stay, so they know they can
get home again."
In an era of concern over climate change, Galaxy Suite have no
plans so far to offset the pollution implications of sending a
rocket to carry just six guests at a time into space.
"But," says Claramunt, "I'm hopeful that the impact of seeing the
earth from a distance will stimulate the guests' urge to value and
protect our planet."
