Better start saving for that summer vacation three years from now: The aerospace startup Orion Span plans to build a space hotel called Aurora Station that will launch into orbit in 2021 and accept its first guests as early as 2022, with a price tag of $9.5 million per person that includes training, liftoff, and a 12-day stay in orbit. “It’s [historically] cost $20 to $50 million to get up there," says Orion Span CEO Frank Bunger. "Our price point is going to be significantly lower." Just not, you know, low.
The ambitious plan for the company involves building and maintaining a pod orbiting about 200 miles above earth, launched aboard private rockets operated by the likes of SpaceX or Blue Origin, Bunger says. The hotel will have “six people aboard at a time,” Bunger says, including two crew. There will be two “private suites,” and guests will have the chance to do research projects like those underway at the International Space Station, like growing your own zero-G food. Or, you can just look out the windows! They’ll also have a “holodeck” on board, Bunger says, with VR equipment, but why you’d want to do that when you’re in space is a bit of a mystery.
“We spent the last nine months developing technology to vastly simplify the design,” Bunger says. “We’re not going to be doing space walks. There are many more examples—I can’t speak much about them—but the goal was to simplify and streamline systems. Our total [development] cost is going to be in the tens of millions instead of hundreds of millions or even billions, like our competitors.” Guests will have to undergo a three-month training program before launch, but that’s far shorter than the two years that have been typical for previous space tourists; a shorter training window is another way Orion Span shaves trip costs.
The enticing if still-sci-fi space hotel concept is hardly the first of its kind. One recently announced plan for a hotel addition to the International Space Station calls for a four-room module that would host guests for $40 million per person. Barron Hilton promoted the idea of an orbital hotel as early as 1967. “Our biggest differentiator,” says Bunger, “is the goal of finding a way to make a space station possible without it costing an insane amount of money.” They’re doing that in part by making the space hotel as simple as possible—essentially, it's a big cylinder that can fit inside a rocket. “It’s like a Gulfstream G550,” Bunger says, “but it goes a lot faster.” One other differentiator: They’re accepting fully refundable deposits of $80,000, starting today. The wait list is now open.
If the first hotel is a hit, the company is ready to send up a fleet of identical modules to build a private space station. “We want to add capacity as demand grows—in the future there will be owners of part of the station—they can visit there, live there, sublease it out," he says. "Like a space condo." And who wouldn't want a vacation house in space?