Voyager Station: Is a luxury space hotel in orbit really only 5 years away?
No one would call the International Space Station a hotel, or luxurious in any way. Only a little larger than a six-bedroom house, it’s been plenty for the 3-6 people who have been up there at a time since its 1998 launch. But it’s no Hilton. It’s barely even a Motel Six.
Voyager Station is supposed to be nothing like that. It’s not a scientific research platform or a proof of concept. Instead, it’s a luxury hotel resembling, if we’re honest, the station from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Voyager Station is the goal of Orbital Assembly Corporation (OAC), a California-based space startup which has many nice CGI graphics of giant wheels in space but no actual completed projects they can point to.
“The Voyager Class will also provide the comfort of low gravity within the luxurious accommodations of a luxury hotel space for tourists who want to experience an extended visit to space,” says the company site.
Voyager Station is meant to include 24 ‘habitation modules’ that can house 300, a restaurant, an event center, bars, offices, and a gym and research center. A low degree of gravity will be provided by the structure of the station, a large spinning wheel.
“For tourists, we believe we can provide hotel amenities that will include: ‘space-ous’ accommodations; stunning views of the Earth, Moon, and stars; restaurant-quality food and beverages; events; functional toilets and showers; exercise facilities; medical triage services; and emergency evacuation capabilities. We’re not camping in space anymore,” the company said.
A three-night stay, along with travel, can already be reserved at $5 million a head, but buyer beware – they haven’t put so much as a bolt in orbit yet, nor do they have any rockets or contracts with rocket companies.
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