Vacationing in space might become a reality in three years.
US-based Orbital Assembly, a space construction company, has announced that a space hotel was in the works and could be opened to tourists as early as 2025. The hotel — Pioneer Station — will be able to accommodate up to 28 people. It will consist of several modules connected by elevator shafts that make up the rotating wheel orbiting the Earth.
This is not Orbital Assembly’s only project in space. It is working on another tourist space station — Voyager Station — to accommodate up to 400 people. This second destination is expected to open in 2027. With Voyager Station and Pioneer Station, Orbital Assembly aims to set up not just a hotel in space but also business parks to house offices and research facilities that would be available on rent.
Orbital Assembly Chief Operating Officer Tim Alatorre told CNN of the design, which would resemble a spinning bucket of water, that the station rotated and pushed the contents out to the perimeter, much like when the water pushes out into a bucket and stays in place when spinning it.
Alatorre said the company envisioned making space a destination people would yearn to visit with the presence of gravity providing familiar elements.
The hotel’s interiors are being designed to resemble a luxury hotel, except with stunning views of the solar system. The space hotels will also feature artificial gravity to allow guests to move around normally, rather than in a weightless environment. The technology is not yet available on space stations, the company said.
Space tourism has gained ground in recent years with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX planning trips. However, it is still unclear how financially viable an annual leave at a space hotel in three years would be.