A space hotel built by the Russians in 2016 may be a possibility. It would be built by a commercial firm and would be a space station with an orbit about 350 km above the Earth.
It would be pretty exclusive with only seven passengers living in capsules. To get their two-day trip they
would be cared for aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. Experienced professionals would accompany them to keep them safe. Windows would obviously have to be installed along with some telescopes and cameras. This I think would be appealing to almost anybody. The cost though is always the problem. It is projected to be $800,000 to get the person from Earth to the space station and five days in space would be $160,000. Virgin Galactic spearheaded by Richard Branson is working towards launching the “SpaceShip 2″ program which would make suborbital flights with a little period of weightlessness costing around $200,000. 500 people have registered for this including Stephen Hawking the renowned physicist. Space tourism does occur today but only for those who have a large amount of cash. One day it is expected that by 2030 there will be lots of space stations all providing different destinations for tourists. They could be moon settlements, gas stations and near Earth orbit viewing platforms. In the far future there will be living areas built but that is a long way ahead. Source: Article, Image: flickr.com
