A company aiming to open the first space hotel already has 43 paying customers at $4.4 million a pop

Space Hotel 2012 Will these space pods fly on time? Galactic Suite

Anyone with a cool $4 million and change might consider doing what 43 other people have done, and sign up for an orbital space vacation in 2012 with Galactic Suite Space Resort. The Barcelona-based company plans to open the first space hotel if all goes according to plan.

Space customers would spend three nights in their orbital pod room, where they could crawl around like Spiderman (or Venom) in Velcro suits. Reuters reports that guests would also enjoy an eight-week training course set on a tropical island.


The space hotel, which PopSci covered when it was first announced in 2007, would start out as a single pod capable of holding four guests and two pilots. But critics remain dubious -- just as Gregory Mone was in our 2007 article -- that the company can meet its scheduled launch date.

Still, the price tag falls far below the $35 million paid by first repeat space tourist Charles Simonyi, or the same higher amount required to book an orbital vacation aboard a surplus Soviet-era military spacecraft.

Hopeful customers might also look forward to Bigelow Aerospace's long-planned inflatable space hotel. But the space hotel visionary behind that company seems a bit busy also helping out NASA at the moment.

[Reuters via SPACE.com]

17 Comments

I hear stuff like this and smile. Brilliant.

sounds amazing.. Technology is really fast. :D i will be still alive in 2012. feel so lucky :D

If only we all had 4.4 million dollars to spend on something we didn't really need the world would be a better place.

Okay, here's the plan: The government can hold a high-level investment banking conference on the orbital hotel, and even pay for the Wall Street execs to attend. Then have NASA and the Air Force "accidentally" forget to tell them that a cloud of orbital debris is headed their way. It's an ideal and cost-effective way to fix the economy!

@HBillyRufus - I think it's a Brilliant Idea!!!

@blaxpear dido.
Id go there if we didnt trash the space like we did to the oceans, ground, sky... wait the sky is space... hhhhmmmmm

Sounds really cool, but yah i don't think it's very likely they'll make the date

Hold on, first we need to know that the 4.4 million dollars we will be paying for this fine voyage will guarantee our safety, right? Thank god I'm not one of those "lucky" Wall Street execs.

@V3RTIGO

With any adventure there is no "guarantee" your saftey.

For example, if someone dies on an expedition climbing Mt. Everest, what good would the guarantee be if one is dead?!?!

Or sailing around the world, or a hot hair balloon flight, or a small aircraft, or a car, or skiing, etc., etc., etc.

If you want to be guaranteed to be safe, you better not leave your couch. Wait - even then there is no guarantee you will be safe - a meteor can strike you dead on your couch.

When your time has come, you will die - no way around it. So while some activity is more risk than others, they may also offer greater rewards than less risky activity (eg sitting on your couch)...

kinda of a big waste of money.

Wow I really want to do this. Now I just have to find $4 million...

how many people can afford this? there are thousands of millionaires more than half of which would love this, i bet u would need another 20 mil in bribes to up ur spot in the waiting list :P

(oh jeez I sound like a conspiracy nut again :{)

Gee...I out of cash right now. Is there a refund if the hotel fails?!

@lalauncensored
www.clickbed.com/?utm_source=laura&utm_medium=linkbuilding&utm_campaign=london

I read things like this and it initially makes me very sad. Sure it is an exciting new venture and a new step in technology, but the money put into it seems wasteful. You look at the news today and see how many are in financial peril and then read about someone blowing $4.4m on a stay in a space hotel. Sure I wish I had that kind of money, but if I spent it like that, I would feel really guilty.

I don't mean to sound like some hippy, but we have enough problems on earth to be taken care of first without putting even more out in space. Capitalism makes the world go 'round though lol.

It sounds really exciting, but, ummmm....I'll need to book it though Priceline.com! My budget is still only Marriott. Suppose they'll someday have coupons?

i'll have the EARTH VIEW room if not reserved!!!

In 1976 when I graduated from college, I predicted that I would be living and working on the Moon by 1990, 2000 at the latest. So much for that pie, in the sky.
May be my granddaughter will get there?



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