It looks like there will be a new trend when it comes to luxurious traveling and it involves a journey on space. Although the concept is still in its early stage of developments, there are three private space stations, Orion Span, Axiom Space, and Bigelow Aerospace, looking to the possibility of space travel.
Orion Span, Axiom Space, and Bigelow Aerospace are now in the early stages of developing their own "orbital observatories." Each station will be catering space travels and stay a few minutes on the cosmos just like what Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin promise.
The likelihood of space travel is yet to see. Australia-based space flight analyst Dr. Morris Jones said building space stations is quite convoluted, let alone very expensive. These stations may also have a hard time traveling through the orbit as the Russian Soyuz rocket is the only one allowed to do it.
"We will need a reliable and accessible orbital tourist vehicle before we can seriously consider space hotels," Jones said, per the South China Morning Post. Space travel is also far to happen now as space tourist vehicles today only embarks on short and limited flights.
But Jones said the biggest challenge for the private space stations is to create a "business case for one." Orion Span, Axiom Space, and Bigelow Aerospace can also arrange space travel for real astronauts from NASA and other national space agencies.
Orion Span already had this in mind with its Aurora Station. The space station's business to space travel will officially start in 2022. It features six rooms for space tourists and two crew, huge windows, and Wi-Fi.
Aurora Station will be orbiting 200 miles above the Earth. Traveling on space will cost the tourist US$80,000 for the initial deposit and a following US$9.5 million for a 12-day stay. The space traveler will receive "training, astronaut certification, first-class round-trip airfare, and five-star accommodation" to the launch site. The day-tripper can also have a chance to ride a rocket from SpaceX or Blue Origin.
Talking about space travel through rockets, Elon Musk already revealed the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa would be the first one traveling around the moon via his rocket company, per Bloomberg. The tourist would be boarding SpaceX's BFR rocket in 2023.
Maezawa would be the first private passenger to visit the moon, a chance only two dozen astronauts experienced during the Project Apollo that ran from 1960 to 1972. Musk revealed the Japanese billionaire was the "bravest person" who was the most willing to do the space travel, although it would be a dangerous mission. But the 47-year-old Tesla Motors CEO assured SpaceX would undergo several test flights before it finally let humans ride the rocket.
