Russia wants to lead a revolution in space travel, and its space agency Roscosmos is formulating plans to become a pioneer in the space hotel business. Its plan is to set up a luxury hotel in the international space station to accommodate Space Tourists.
Newsweek reports that according to tentative plans, the tourists can stay in the hotel for up to one month at a time and can also go for spacewalks.
Until now, the domain of Space was under the control of scientists who laid emphasis on research. Their focus was to generate data on how to survive in a totally alien environment.
However, man’s interest in space has gradually created a platform for others to exploit the potentials of undertaking activities in space that will have little or no connection to research.
The offers are attractive
The journey to this exotic location would appeal to those who can afford to shell out approximately $40 to $60 million per trip and, Roscosmos believes that there will be no dearth of such people. The space tourists would be able to enjoy the stay in comfort and those who have dreamt up this adventure have assured that the tourists can go for the spacewalks along with the astronauts of the International Space Station.
Incidentally, the funding of this luxury hotel would be done through private and state investments.
The tourists would be required to pay in installments.
Others in the fray
Apart from Roscosmos, there are other players in the field. Prominent among them are Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, and Russian firm KosmoKurs. Their concepts are different and are not linked to the International Space Station.
Virgin Galactic has already made considerable progress in space tourism. They have not yet set any time schedule for its operations but has received payments from would be tourists that include many celebrities.
According to Agent4stars, Virgin Galactic has sold a total of more than 650 tickets and the website has declared 86 names.
The list includes the likes of Angelina Jolie (1st flight), Brad Pitt (2nd flight), Paris Hilton, Princess Beatrice, Sam Branson, Sir Richard Branson, Stephen Hawking, Tom Hanks etcetera.
Blue Origin feels it can begin operation in another two years. It promises to offer a window seat to each space tourist in its capsule. KosmoKurs has not elaborated on its line of action but expects to receive its first passengers in 2020.
Agencies like NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, and others have been doing the groundwork for decades to learn the intricacies of space travel. They have set the platform for space tourism so that others can travel into space and, who knows, meet aliens in UFOs.
