Space Hotels

Now, you can check into a hotel in space and orbit the Earth as you sleep. The view from your hotel window will be the most spectacular one you have ever seen, with the Earth on one side and the Moon on the other. In between will lie the vast expanse of space, with stars twinkling as far as the eyes can see.

And how will you get to the hotel in space? Flag down a space taxi of course!

The New Hobby of the Super Rich: Space Tourism
Private space tourism is growing in leaps and bound, with people ready to pay a million dollars or more to book a seat on one of the best joyrides ever invented by man.

In facts, there are reports that Virgin Atlantic Airways, owned by the glamorous Richard Branson, is already planning test launches of flights to space this year through its subsidiary company, Virgin Galactic.

However, a time will come when people will no longer be content to simply take a spin through space and then come back down to boring ol' Earth. They will want to spend more time up there in the heavens... hopefully a couple of nights.

Taking this thought forward, an entrepreneurial company wishes to build a hotel in space. The lead contractor at the International Space Station is a Russian company, and it is planning to build the very first hotel in space in order to cash in on the new hobby of the super rich: space tourism.

The company called Energia, and it is actively looking for investors who believe that a private space station is the new big idea for space tourism. Deputy chief designer Alexander Derechin envisages a hotel accommodating around seven people at a time.

It will be fitted with equipment enabling scientists to carry out research. In addition, there will be an entertainment area inside the space hotel.

Apparently it is a guaranteed success, because "commercial space ships are being built around the world - they will need to fly somewhere". Energia has teamed up with Orbital Technologies, according to a report by Reuters.

Investors have already committed up to a billion dollars to the project. Derechin says, "I do not think we will be able to complete it before 2015, but I do not think we should wait much beyond that. The competition is growing and we need to hurry up."