All images: Orbital Technologies

In the (near) future, you and your significant other will be able to honeymoon in space, aboard a luxury “hotel” offering out-of-this-world views, dehydrated gourmet meals, and satellite TV and Wi-fi capabilities. A new Russian spacecraft, called “Commercial Space Station (CSS)”, will offer consumers the first private lodgings in space. But, there are a couple of snags: you’ll have to first undergo 3 months of preparatory training, learn to shower using wet wipes, and accustom yourself to sleeping upright, wrapped in a body jacket. Oh, and a five-day stay plus travel expenses–you’ll be chauffeured by a Soyuz rocket–will set you back close to $1 million. Still interested?

Developed by Orbital Technologies, the Commercial Space Station is set to launch in 2016, kicking off the start of commercial space flight and tourism. The space hotel will float 217 miles above earth, just beyond “low Earth orbit,” and will double as a pit stop for those traveling on chartered flights to the moon and a hub for scientific research.

As a hotel, the space seems somewhat cramped and auspicious–not a place you’d spend multiple nights in, let alone the maximum stay of 60 days. Large portholes are equipped with cameras and binoculars so you can explore all those intergalactic panoramas. A kitchen will store prepared meals that guests will have chosen in advance, along with a host of beverage options, excluding alcohol, which is strictly prohibited aboard. There is an air flushing toilet, a fully sealed shower cubicle, and reclinable beds, which may rest in the upright or horizontal positions. So you can sleep, eat, and browse online–just in space.

Though its developers say it won’t be anything like the International Space Station–what with those uncomfortable and sterile interiors, tubular food, and sponge baths–renderings of the Commercial Space Station do little to convince us. Not much has changed in the past 40 years in spacecraft interior design.

by Samuel Medina

posted in New Projects Uncategorized

tagged commercial space station, russia, space

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