Article by: The Culture Trip
Featured image by: Rendering of Aurora Station | PRNewsfoto/Orion Span
Forget Disney World’s Space Mountain for your next vacation, because starting in 2020, you could spend your holiday in a luxury hotel that is literally in space…at least, if you have a few million bucks to spare.
“Aurora Station,” a modular space station turned luxury hotel, was announced at the Space 2.0 Summit in San Jose, California, and naturally it’s got people talking. Available for bookings in 2020, this hotel offers an unforgettable 12-day journey to space with time to zoom around in zero gravity, work on science experiments like growing space food and the chance to see 16 sunrises and sunsets every 24 hours. Such a unique experience does come with a hefty price tag – $9.5 million, to be exact – and if you would like to reserve your spot today, the deposit is set at a refundable $80,000.
“Our goal is to make space accessible to all. Upon launch, Aurora Station goes into service immediately, bringing travelers into space quickly and at a lower price point than ever seen before,” said Frank Bunger, CEO and founder of Orion Span, the startup enabling guests to float 200 miles above Earth’s surface. “Our goal is to make space accessible to all, by continuing to drive greater value at lower cost.”
Hotel “guests” must complete a three-month Orion Span Astronaut Certification (OSAC) program because, well, you’re leaving this planet. Beginning with an online course, the training is followed up with a second portion at Orion Span’s training facility in Houston and completed on the space station while in orbit.
The hotel is only available for six people at a time (four guests and two crew members), which could allow a family the experience of a lifetime. And don’t worry, there’s a high-speed Internet connection so guests can update friends and family about the trip and make their Instagram posts out of this world (sorry, we had to).
Aurora Station is planning to launch in 2021 with the first set of guests arriving in space in 2022. If you can stomach the pricetag (and the centrifugal force) the waiting list for the trip is now open. For the rest of us, Space Mountain doesn’t seem that bad.
