You Can Now Book a Stay at the World's First Space Hotel

Looking for an exotic vacation destination with stellar views? If you're willing to wait a few years, you may be able to stay aboard the Aurora Station, a luxury space hotel that developer Orion Span plans to have open to guests by 2022.

According to The Architect's Newspaper, the hotel will be the world's first fully-modular space station, if Orion Span's current timeline comes together. It will also be the first space station to operate as a hotel. The initial capsule will be 43.5 feet long and 14 feet wide, with extensions potentially being added to accommodate more guests.

To experience the Aurora in person, guests will first need to complete a three-month training program. That includes an online course, classes at Orion Span's training facility in Houston, Texas, and final training on the space station itself. While that's a lot more prep time than what's required for your average hotel stay, it's just a fraction of the time invested by astronauts training on Earth.

Once on board the Aurora, up to six passengers, including professional astronaut guides, will share a 35-foot-by-14-foot living space. Orion Span's website reads:

"At an altitude of 200 miles, your views will be far superior than those of other space destinations: close enough for great detail and photographing your hometown, far enough to get a glimpse of our broader pale blue dot. With an orbit complete every 90 minutes, you'll see countless sunrises and sunsets."

Start-ups have been promising to pioneer space tourism for years, but so far these plans have been mostly talk and little action. If Orion Span wants to be different, it will need to raise a lot of funding and find a launch provider in just four years, and the company has yet to reveal how it plans to do either. Even if the project does make it off the ground, booking a ticket will be difficult for most people: A 12-day trip will cost $9.5 million per person, and reservations for the first four months have already sold out.

If you're still interested, you can contact Orion Span to put down your refundable $80,000 deposit.

[h/t The Architect's Newspaper]