Latest Entry in the Commercial Space Race: Galactic Suite to Build a Space Hotel

The list of potential commercial space players added a new member when it was announced that a new company, Galactic Suite, intends to deploy a "space hotel" in low Earth orbit by the year 2012. Galactic Suite constitutes the second project to build what is in effect a private space station, the effort being led by Bigelow Aerospace being the first.

Galactic Suite, a Barcelona, Spain based company, intends to provide a vacation package that would involve a number of weeks worth of training on a Caribbean Island followed by a three day stay on board the space hotel. The price for this vacation of a life time would be four million American dollars or about three million Euros.

Activities that tourists on board the Galactic Suite space hotel include crawling around walls wearing Velcro covered suits (sort of like Spider Man), watching the view of the Earth from low Earth orbit, participating in scientific experiments, and soaking up in a micro gravity "spa."

The design for the Galactic Suite space hotel is described by company director Xavier Claramunt as, "three-bedroom boutique hotel's joined up pod structure, which makes it look like a model of molecules." The space hotel will orbit the Earth at a distance of three hundred miles. The space hotel will be able to accommodate six guests at a time.

Claramunt claims that an unnamed, wealthy space enthusiast has already invested three billion dollars in the project. Galactic Suite is also in talks with potential investors from Japan, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

While Galactic Suite suggests that it will provide transportation to and from the space hotel, no details have been provided. A number of companies, including SpaceX are working on private space craft capable of transporting people and cargo to and from low Earth orbit.