Well-heeled space tourists will have a new orbital destination four years from now, if one company's plans come to fruition. The California-based startup Orion Span aims to loft its "Aurora Station" in late 2021 and begin accommodating guests in 2022.
"We are launching the first-ever affordable luxury space hotel," said Orion Span founder and CEO Frank Bunger. A 12-day stay aboard Aurora Station will start at $9.5 million, which is quite a bit less than orbital tourists have paid in the past. From 2001 through 2009, seven private citizens took a total of eight trips to the International Space Station, paying an estimated $20 million to $40 million each time.
Aurora Station will be about the size of a large private jet's cabin and will accommodate four paying guests and two crewmembers. Orion Span plans to add more modules onto the original Aurora Station core over time as demand grows.
"Our long-term vision is to sell actual space in those new modules," Bunger said. "We're calling that a space condo. That's the future vision here — to create a long-term, sustainable human habitation in LEO [low Earth orbit]."
*well-heeled (adj); wealthy* Low Earth orbit (2000km/1200 miles or less above the Earth) technology is an increasingly lively sector of the global economy, blending government and private industries worldwide. Private space technology companies are starting up in Japan now as well. See "Japanese entrepreneurs aim for the starts" (https://japantoday.com/category/tech/japanese-entrepreneurs-aim-for-the…) for more background.