Moscow-based company to create an orbiting hotel for space tourists

by Melanie Nayer on

Seems like the booking of space tourism isn’t that far off.

According to the Associated Press, Moscow-based Orbital Technologies announced its bid to help drive tourism to outer space by building an orbiting hotel in space.

The planned Commercial Space Station can serve as a tourism hub for travelers, and also provide accommodations for astronauts and cosmonauts working on the International Space Station.

Apparently, the “space hotel” will be seven rooms, void of any scientific equipment, and include food prepared by celebrity chefs, who will cook and package the meals before they are sent into space.

The opening of this planned hotel won’t be until at least 2016, but in the meantime, we can all sit and ponder how this will actually work, and who will design the hotel.

Neil Armstrong customs documents swiped, put up for sale by checkpoint worker

by Scott Carmichael on

Neil Armstrong took one very famous “small step”, but two Boston area men took a small step of their own, one that may see them serve up to ten years in jail.

When Armstrong passed through the arrivals checkpoint at Boston Logan, 50-year-old Thomas Chapman, of Malden was in charge of verifying his customs declaration form. Instead of placing the form in the correct file, Chapman kept it, and with the aid of his friend, 50-year-old Paul Brickman, of Chelsea, the document was put up for sale.

When one of the potential bidders notified authorities, the men were arrested and charged with stealing an official government record. At that point, bids were already over $1000.

According to the brother of one of the men, the whole thing has been blown out of proportion. He said his brother simply got starstruck and got an autograph on the wrong piece of paper.

[Image: Win McNamee/Getty Images]

NASA focused on commercial space travel

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Crossing oceans isn’t enough for you? Well, NASA is working to scratch the most extreme of travel itches. The organization is putting $50 million of economic stimulus cash from the feds into putting the average traveler into space. Companies eager to develop a commercial space vehicle have 45 days to submit their proposals, and the winner will be announced by the end of September.

The program comes at a time when NASA is drastically changing its approach to space. After seven more missions next year, the space shuttle fleet is going to be retired – with the final touch being the completion of the International Space Station. Then, we’ll be outsourcing our space travel to Russia, with U.S. astronauts hitching rides to the space station. Cargo will be shipped to this extraterrestrial spot – 225 miles from Earth – by rockets and capsules being developed by SpaceX and Orbital Sciences.

So, commercial space travel appears to be the key to getting the United States back into the game. Some big names have shown some interest in building the vehicles, including Boeing, Retro Aerospace, Davidson Technologies and Emergent Space technologies.

The Greatest and Most Unusual Travel Photo of All Time?

by Willy Volk on

I stumbled over this image just now, and it took my breath away.

Everything about the image is just so amazing: The poof-y shapes of the clouds in the background… The electric blue line that marks the boundary of the atmosphere… The absolute void of color that is space juxtaposed against the brilliant white space suit… The fact that you can see the photographer’s reflection in the mask of the astronaut… The slight, slo-mo wave the astronaut is giving, as if to say, “Tell my wife I love her very much, she knows…“

In my opinion, this may be the greatest travel photo of all time. I love it.

Be sure to check out the larger image here. And for other great travel photos — none of which were taken in space — be sure to browse through our Photos of the Day.

Have Your Honeymoon in Space

by Jonathon Morgan on

My fiance and I occasionally speculate about where we’d like to have our honeymoon. Someplace urban? Someplace close to nature? Maybe both?

One option we hadn’t considered, is space.

That’s the plan for Loretta and George Whitesides, the couple who intend to have their honeymoon in zero gravity. You can learn all about the couple’s mission du love at their new Web site, spacelove.org.

Here’s an excerpt: “We hope that with our flight, we can help bring love and peace to a place that is very important to us – space,” said Loretta (…) The sub-orbital spaceflight will launch the couple over 100 km high, past the boundary of space. The flight will include several minutes of weightlessness, a view of the blackness of space and the curvature of the Earth.”

Sounds romantic, indeed. Check out the site for updates on the couple’s preparation, and advice on how you can have your very own outer space marriage!

[via Boing Boing]