The Orion Space Company launched a luxury space hotel where up to 4 guests can stay at a time.
It is a modular space station called the Aurora Station that can handle 6 people including 2 crew members for a 12 day journey where they will live like real astronauts.
“Guests will be orbiting in the hotel at 200 miles above the surface experiencing zero gravity the entire time,” Frank Bunger, CEO of Orion Span, told Forbes.
The company is conducting space research for activities like growing food in space which guests will take home as mementos.
Bunger also explained that guests will have a travel experience out of Star Trek and they will get a heroes welcome once they return to Earth.
ALSO READ: This is what happens when you let this man plan your travels
Guests will be able to:
- International Space Station
Orion has streamlined the astronaut space training down to three months to make more accessible and affordable.
The training course will include:
- Aurora Station
The total cost of this stay amounts to a whopping Sh952 million per person ($9.5 million). This translates to about Sh80 million per night which is a bargain according to Bunger as guests of the ISS paid Sh2-4 billion for their entire stay.
ALSO READ: 5 things you can only do in Kenya
Forbes reports that, "For $10 million with fully refundable $80,000 deposits are now being accepted for a future stay on Aurora Station, which is slated to launch in late 2021 and host its first guests in 2022."
The wait list opened April 5th 2018.
Orion also looks to open the world's first space apartments.
"We figure it’s like the early days of the commercial aviation business where it seemed like a crazy wild idea,” said Bunger. “But after a year or two of it being done, it becomes routine. Our goal is to make space travel even more affordable over time.”