First Luxury Space Hotel - set to open in 2021, but already takes reservations

Aurora Station is the first hotel to be opened in space in 2021, but it already takes reservations from those who are interested in spending a truly out of this world vacation and experience zero gravity living.

Orion Span, a company founded by Frank Bunger, has recently announced that is planning to build a luxury hotel in space that will have an interior similar to a Gulfstream jet. The dimensions will be following: 43.5 ft long by 14 ft wide (13.3 x 4.3 m) and it will have a pressurized volume of around 5650 cubic ft (or 160 cubic m). There will be enough room for two crew members and four travelers and accommodate them for a period of 12 days at around 200 miles (approx 322 km) above the Earth.

The great thing about this is that even though the hotel is scheduled to be opened in 2021, it already takes reservations and the first guests are expected to come starting off 2022. One can get onto the company’s waiting list to book a “room” for $80,000 or £56,500. For this experience, guests will have to pay $9.5m for the 12-day stay, the equivalent of $791,666 a night. Worth mentioning is that in case plans are put on hold for various reasons, these deposits will be refunded.

Probably one of the most beautiful aspects of being a guest of this luxury space hotel is that you can benefit from mesmerizing views of sunrises and sunsets above the ground. The hotel will be designed to orbit the planet every 90 minutes, which means that you will have the chance to experience no less than 16 sunsets and 16 sunrises every day.

It’s essential to know that if you want to be on board of this hotel, you will need to enroll in a three-month astronaut certification program, which will prepare you for spending a few days in outer space safely and securely.

According to Frank Bunger, the CEO of Orion Span, the company building Aurora Station, a large number of people have worked for days as far as the architecture of this hotel is concerned, trying to make it as simple and modular as possible. They focused especially on automation and making things easier so that there will be no need for spacewalks or other extravehicular activities (EVAs). “The goal was to make simplicity possible”, were some of his words in a conference he held several days ago. This is also the main reason why the cost of building the space hotel and the price for booking are so high.

However, Orion Span has not yet discussed how both the hotel and the guests will get to orbit, as it has to confirm any potential deals with one of the launch providers on the market.

Some may say that 12 days in outer space is a long period, but Bunger doesn’t share their opinion. He claims that “there will be plenty of opportunities” to do various things, such as do some research projects or simply stare out of the window. Furthermore, up to three hours every day are scheduled for training.

After all, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience and those who have been dreaming of becoming astronauts since they were very young can now see their dream come true.