Galactic Suites

According to a rather sketchy report on SPACE.com, a company called Galactic Suite is planning to have a hotel in Earth orbit by 2012.

Looking at the company's website at www.galacticsuite.com you'll find a more complete explanation of the projected vision. A three-day stay would cost $4 million, but that would include several weeks on a Caribbean island for training; while in space, tourists would also take part in scientific research. The company, owned by investors from the United States, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates and based in Barcelona, Spain, estimates there are 40,000 people in the world who could afford such a vacation, though it is not sure how many of those will want to make the trip. GS plans a chain of orbital hotels.

The success of any such project will clearly depend on the availability of a reliable transport system to take visitors to the hotel and bring them home. No such system exists at present, though GS plans to operate its own vehicles. Suborbital tourist flights may begin next year, but reaching orbit vastly complicates the matter. Whether a system will be available by 2012 remains to be seen.

Galactic Suite offers an exciting vision of the near future. Will that vision become reality? Stay tuned.