Vacation in Space

Reported December 2009

BARCELONA (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Just as winter starts to set in, we're looking forward to vacation. Where's your favorite spot? A beach? A big city? Maybe a cruise? Now there's a new option that's out of this world!

The thrill of defying gravity … the excitement of the unknown…

Only 515 astronauts know what it's like to look down on earth. And now with a little courage, some training and a lot of cash, you can join them. Construction is now underway on the first space hotel.

Designed by architects, the three-bedroom, $3 billion galactic suite is set to lift off -- hotel guests and al -- in just two years.

"To send something to space is very easy," Xaxier Claramunt, aerospace engineer and CEO of Galactic Suite in Barcelona, Spain, told Ivanhoe. "The really difficult thing is to arrive there."

Before the trip, guests train for two months on an island, learning to live in confined spaces and how to function in zero gravity.

The trip isn't all play -- guests will help conduct science experiments. Two-hundred-seventy-nine miles straight up, the hotel would doc with a station and orbit the earth every 80 minutes.

"You can see the sun rise 16 times in one day," Claramunt said.

Claramunt and his Barcelona-based team are working on a prototype where visitors could Velcro themselves to the walls and work out in a space spa. Big bubbles would provide a way for guests to take a shower. Sounds exciting, but skeptics say space travel is more complicated and too dangerous for just anyone to try.

As for cost? A stay will be the most expensive in the galaxy: A three-day adventure will set you back $4 million. Even if you have the cash, you still need the guts.

A far out adventure that could be your next family get away.A far out adventure that could be your next family get away.

This hotel is just one of several in a race to break into the space market. An American company is the main competitor, and students at the Imperial College in London have developed a zero gravity inn for an out-of-this-world experience.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.-USA, and the American Society of Civil Engineers contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Ariadna
GALACTICSUITE
Barcelona, Spain
tel. +34 619 477 784
gs@galacticsuite.com

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
IEEE
Pender McCarter
IEEE http://www.ieee.org
IEEE-USA http://www.ieeeusa.org
p.mccarter@ieee.org

The American Society of Civil Engineers
Leikny Johnson
Reston, VA 20191-4400
(703) 295-6413
http://www.asce.org
ljohnson@asce.org

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