Space tourism: with Elon Musk’s SpaceX sending first civilians into low-Earth orbit this year, ambitious plans are being hatched
- SpaceX has sold four multimillion-dollar charter flights to space, and Virgin Galactic has begun training 600 customers for its planned space flights
- Other companies plan to launch space hotels, and a balloon-like capsule for space day trips, before the decade is out. Is space tourism going mainstream?
Many of us fantasise about boldly going to explore the final frontier but, despite decades of blue-sky thinking, space tourism has largely remained the stuff of science fiction.
Now, though, the race for space is heating up as several aeronautical tourism projects near fruition. They promise to offer travellers an out-of-this-world experience.
In March, American start-up The Gateway Foundation announced plans to launch the first commercial space hotel by 2027. The Voyager Station will be able to accommodate up to 280 guests and 112 crew members. The 50,000 square metre (540,000 sq ft) structure, shaped like a Ferris wheel, will rotate slowly to create gravity similar to that which is experienced on the moon.
Inside, it will be less a sterile spaceship and more a swanky hotel: think plush villas and suites with en suite bathrooms, a gym and full-service restaurants and bars, although exactly how guests will dine in a low-gravity environment remains unclear.
Houston-based Axiom Space, meanwhile, has unveiled plans for the AxStation, a commercial space station that will be open to astronauts – its own as well as others, including tourists. The structure will be built while attached to the International Space Station. All being well, by 2028 the AxStation will be ready to detach and form a free-flying space station after the ISS is decommissioned.
Facilities on board will include research and manufacturing spaces, a panoramic observatory, an airlock for spacewalks and living quarters designed by French architect Philippe Starck.