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How Many More Times Do We Have to Hear About a 'Planned' Space Hotel?

September 30, 2010 at 12:35 PM | by | Comments (0)

Space Hotels might just be another flash in the sky.

Here's yet another Space Hotel making the rounds on the interwebs today. A Russian firm, Energia, has teamed up with Orbital Technologies to create a hotel that no one except wealthy billionaires will be able to afford. Their space hotel will essentially be a private space station that can fit up to seven people. ABC News reports:

The hotel will provide facilities for scientific research, media projects and entertainment and will be able to dock with Russia's Soyuz manned spacecraft and Progress transport craft, Orbital said in a statement.

Private investors have pledged to commit between $100 million and $1 billion, said [Alexander Derechin, the company's chief designer.] Orbital said several customers have already signed contracts.

"I do not think we will be able to complete it before 2015 but I do not think we should wait much beyond that. The competition is growing and we need to hurry up," Derechin said.

Ok, hold up. Let's simmer down now. The competition Derechin is referring to is billionaire hotelier Robert Bigelow of Budget Suites, who is planning his own space hotel. But we're not sure Bigelow is any further along in his plans than he was back in 2007.

And who in their right mind is going to fork out millions of dollars for a space stay, aside from eccentric billionaires who somehow manage to pass the rigorous space fitness tests? Not to mention, can we really get excited now about a "hotel" opening in 2015.

Lastly, we really take issue with liberal use of the word "hotel" when talking about space hotels. Aside from having outerspace price tags, these stays will not be able to happen without, as we just mentioned, some rigorous space training. Last time we checked, you didn't need much training of any kind to stay in a hotel.

Of course, we know this is just a sexier way to sell private space stations to investors and drum up some publicity but we just want to reiterate--space hotels are not the future. Not until we're all flying around Jetsons-style. Sorry to bust your space bubbles. Care to disagree? Please do in comments below!

[Photo: Navicore]

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