THE WORLD’S first space hotel will open its doors to cash-flushed guests from 2027.
The Voyager Class space station will host up to 400 people and feature bars, cinemas, restaurants and even a gym.
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Orbital Assembly Corporation (OAC), the US company behind the bonkers project, has announced that it will begin construction in 2025.
The station will be a large metal ring built in orbit around Earth that will rotate to generate artificial gravity.
Pods attached to the outside of the station can be hired out by tourists as well as scientists working on space research.
“The station will be designed from the start to accommodate both national space agencies conducting low gravity research and space tourists who want to experience life on a large space station with the comfort of low gravity and the feel of a nice hotel,” according to the OAC website.
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Construction costs have yet to be revealed by the company, which is based in Rancho Cucamonga, California.
According to the OAC website, the hotel will orbit the Earth roughly every 90 minutes.
Its gentle rotation will generate a low level of artificial gravity that mimics the forces felt on the surface of the Moon.
Rooms are connected to the centre of the ring structure by tubes that resemble the spokes of a wheel.
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The Voyager Class will be kitted out like a cruise ship, with themed restaurants, a health spa, libraries and even concert venues.
Guests will apparently travel to their home-away-from-home onboard rockets operated by SpaceX.
A portion of the space facility will be taken up by necessities such as crew quarters, air, water and power.
While many of the station’s 24 modules will be available to the public, others will be leased or sold to private companies and governments.
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The OAC unveiled details about the project during its “First Assembly” virtual event on January 29.
“This will be the next industrial revolution,” explained founder John Blincow, adding it will create a new space industry.
He said the teams plans to test the concept with a much smaller scale prototype station before beginning construction on a full-scale model.
The trial facility will be similar in size to the International Space Station.
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The OAC is not the first group to float the idea of a space hotel.
Last year, NASA announced that US start up Axiom Space would design a commercial space capsule for use on space tourism flights.
The £2bn Axiom station will orbit 250 miles above earth, and while it expects to mainly welcome scientists and researchers, “space tourists” will also visit.
However, it isn’t that easy, or cheap – a practice mission was launched by Axiom last year for $55m (£40m).
To stay at the hotel, guests had to have 15 weeks of training, then ten days of living in space conditions on the ground.
What is the ISS?
Here’s what you need to know about the International Space Station…
- The International Space Station, often abbreviated to ISS, is a large space craft that orbits Earth and houses astronauts who go up there to complete scientific missions
- Many countries worked together to build it and they work together to use it
- It is made up of many pieces, which astronauts had to send up individually on rockets and put together from 1998 to 2000
- Ever since the year 2000, people have lived on the ISS
- Nasa uses the station to learn about living and working in space
- It is approximately 250 miles above Earth and orbits around the planet just like a satellite
- Living inside the ISS is said to be like living inside a big house with five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a gym, lots of science labs and a big bay window for viewing Earth
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