Galactic Suite wants space hotel by 2012

A Spanish firm Galactic Suite has plants to build a space hotel by 2012. If everything goes as planned Galactic Suite will offer a three-days stay in a three-bedroom suite in space for $4 million:

The space hotel guests will be charged around $4 million to stay three days in a three-bedroom suite in space. The hotel will offer guests the ability to watch 18 sunrises per day. The hotel's pod-like structure is designed so that it ultimately looks like a group of molecules. Individual pods that must be able to fit on a shuttle for launch.

As expected, Galactic Suite needs to work on several design and implementation issues that could potentially cause issues in space.

"It's the bathrooms in zero gravity that are the biggest challenge," said Xavier Claramunt, Galatic Suite director. "How to accommodate the more intimate activities of the guests is not easy," he added. Guests who want to take a shower must enter a room that has bubbles of water floating around.

The price tag of a space visit is pretty high but Galactic Suite argues that there are at least 40,000 people in the world who could afford it.

Before guests can actually board a rocket to visit the space hotel they will first need up to eight weeks of training on a Caribbean island to ensure that they are mentally and physically ready for space travel.