If Elon Musk is looking for a place to park that Tesla that he launched into space, he may want to invest in Aurora Station. Houston-based company Orion Span, Inc. just announced plans to open the planet’s first space hotel, with plenty of parking for flying roadsters.
Turns out that space is the final frontier not only for Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise, but for the hospitality industry, too. Orion Span is beating the eventual rush to provide space tourists with a place to lay their weary heads, as Bloomberg first reported. The luxury space hotel would orbit 200 miles above Earth, offering six guests 384 sunrises and sunsets as they race around the planet for 12 days at incredibly high speeds. It’s the perfect option (well, the only option) for those well-heeled Virgin Galactic travelers willing and able to spend $250,000 on a ticket to the stars.
The company hopes to launch the modular station in late 2021 and welcome its first guests the following year. The once-in-a-lifetime astronaut experience would last 12 days with a price tag that starts at $9.5 million per person. Deposits are already being accepted for stays on Aurora Station for a mere $80,000 per person. Make your reservation here. Don’t worry, the deposits are refundable if, say, the technology to shuttle tourists aboard the platform doesn’t exist by the time of your reservation.
Like other luxury hotels looking for multiple revenue streams, the company has bigger plans for Aurora Station other than just being the planet’s first space hotel, though. They want to offer charters to space agencies, hope to support zero gravity research, and serve as a base for space manufacturing. Don’t put the deposit on that retirement condo in Boca quite yet, because they are also hoping to sell the world’s first space condominiums
