Space hotel may open in 2025

Waking up in a chic hotel room with a view of the solar system could be the future of travel, at least if space company Orbital Assembly has anything to offer.

The US-based company has revealed new information and concepts for its space hotel idea, designs for which have been orbiting since 2019.

Originally premiered by the Californian company the Gateway Foundation — and then called the Von Braun Station — this futuristic concept includes several modules connected by elevator shafts that make up a rotating wheel orbiting the Earth.

The project is now being looked after by Orbital Assembly Corporation, a space construction company that cut links with Gateway. Orbital Assembly is now planning to launch not one but two space stations with tourist accommodation: Voyager Station, the renamed original design, is now scheduled to accommodate 400 people and to open in 2027, while the new concept Pioneer Station, housing 28 people, could be operational in 2025. The goal, says Orbital Assembly, is to run a space “business park” home to offices as well as tourists.

Space tourism seems closer than ever before — over the past year, billionaire Virgin founder Richard Branson reached suborbital space with his company Virgin Galactic, while Star Trek actor William Shatner became the oldest person in space thanks to a jaunt with Blue Origin.

But there’s still a pretty unbelievable price point attached to any space trip, which makes it hard for many people to actually planning to spend their annual leave out of this world.