Fifty years since the moon landings, space is the new playground of the rich and famous. If Sir Richard Branson is to be believed, space tourism is already here; for £175,000, Virgin Galactic will soon propel punters into zero-gravity in a dedicated spacecraft for what has been described as “a millionaire boondoggle thrill ride”. But why bother with a few minutes of weightlessness when, for a few million more, you could spend a fortnight in orbit? The budding space hotel industry is trying to answer that question, offering a sort of Nasa-meets-Radisson Blu experiment 200 miles above planet earth. They’re willing to take bookings from anyone with a few tens of millions to spare, be they the super-rich or government space agencies; everyone else will have to be content to gaze up from terra firma at these new concepts of galactic hospitality.

Von Braun Station

Von Braun Station is the brainchild of the Gateway Foundation, which compares the experience to a luxury cruise – it will have fully working bars and kitchens when it opens. Alongside commercial visitors, the Gateway Foundation plans to house national space agencies conducting low-gravity research.

The Transit

As well as life-support facilities such as solar panels and air- and water-producing modules, Von Braun has a proposed rail transit system that would circle the outermost ring of the station.

The Next Generation

After the proposed opening of Von Braun, the Gateway Foundation plans to construct a larger spaceport called “The Gateway”, with a capacity of 1,400 and almost 500 metres in diameter. This would act as a stepping-stone for human colonisation of Mars and the moons of Jupiter.

The Launch Date

Von Braun hopes to be operational from 2025, with roughly 100 visitors travelling to and from the station every week.

The Capacity

Twenty-four pods with sleeping and living areas will be dispersed around the rim of the wheel, projected to house a population of approximately 400 guests and staff. Given only 565 people have ever been to space in human history, it’s an ambitious target.

The Gravity

Von Braun Station is named after Wernher von Braun, whose pioneering work in physics is also used to generate the station’s gravity. Designed as a 190-metre wheel, Von Braun will rotate around a central point to create a centrifugal force similar in strength to the moon’s gravity. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s the difference between being able to use a lavatory normally and, well, not.

Axiom Station

Axiom Space’s cofounder and president, Michael Suffredini, was previously the manager of the International Space Station, so we can assume he knows his stuff. The ISS is due to be retired in 2024 and Suffredini has been open about Axiom’s desire to be its replacement.

The Designer

Axiom plans to host groups of space tourists on board its commercial station, the interiors of which have been designed by Philippe Starck, by 2022. An eight-day trip will cost $55m (£42m) per person, including the launch costs, accommodation, equipment and 15 weeks’ training on earth.

The Contracts

Like many stations, Axiom will have a decidedly commercial bent, describing itself as “the in-space industrial park for manufacturing products to be used on the ground and in orbit”. Space tourism will be only one of its many functions.

The Team

With an array of space industry backgrounds, Axiom’s team has been involved in every International Space Station mission since its inception.

Aurora Station

Aurora Station is a space hotel – sorry, “single-launch-to-orbit solution” – with a planned liftoff date in 2021, before welcoming guests a year later. Like Axiom, Aurora will be a commercial station, roughly 230 miles above the earth, with some areas leased to government space agencies. Guests will take part in the day-to-day running of the station in what’s touted as a more authentic astronaut experience.

The Price

Orion Span is currently accepting reservations: for a refundable deposit of $80,000 (£60,000), also payable in cryptocurrency, guests will be added to the waiting list ahead of launch.

The Living Space

With a capacity of six (comprising four travellers and two crew), Aurora’s interior space of roughly ten by four metres will be comparable to a private jet.

The View

Aurora station will circle the planet once every 90 minutes, offering guests an average of 16 sunrises and sunsets per day.

The Capsules

The station’s segmented, modular design means Orion Span, the start-up behind Aurora, could effectively launch “rooms” one at a time, with Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets a hypothetical carrier.

The Training

Guests will be charged $9.5m (£7.2m) each for a 12-day stay and would be required to undergo a three-month training programme before going into space.

Skywalk

© Cover Images

The Skywalk space hotel is a hypothetical concept conceived by the futurist Professor Dale Russell as part of Samsung’s KX50: The Future In Focus project, a thought experiment carried out by the company to visualise what life in 2069 might look like. Space hotels are just one of the technological developments theorised by Professor Russell.

The Colonies

“Future domed cities,” says Russell, “generating their own climate, food supply and resources, could be the model for space cities on Mars. With Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson already enthusiastic advocates of space tourism, this could begin with space hotels.”

The Space Lift

The report proposes that a centrifugal sky elevator made of “super-light, extremely strong materials” could propel space travellers outside the atmosphere using little to no fuel.

The Concept

Russell describes the hotels as, “Luxury space stations orbiting the moon or planets, generating their own gravity,” a description similar to the concept for the Von Braun Station.

The Home Visit

Alongside low-orbit hotels, Russell also predicts that virtual reality technology might become so advanced as to make travelling to space redundant. The experience could be modelled so realistically and vividly, she suggests, that a tourist could “visit” space from their own home.

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