Spanish architects plan $3bn galactic hotel

IT is set to be the ultimate destination for the traveller who has explored every corner of the globe - but this out-of-this-world mini-break will set you back nearly £2 million.

A firm of architects in Spain has announced plans to build the first hotel in space, with "Galactic Suite" expected to open for business in 2012. On the three-day stay, six guests will be sent by rocket to the facility where they will be able to travel round the world in just 80 minutes and watch the sun rise 15 times a day.

However, the Barcelona-based firm has had to work out how to deal with some tricky challenges associated with catering for the needs of their floating guests. Those staying at the three- bedroom hotel will wear Velcro suits to enable them to sleep, eat or crawl around their rooms - sticking themselves to the wall like Spider-Man. Guests taking a shower will be sprayed with bubbles of floating water in a spa room.

Company director Xavier Claramunt admitted they were still trying to work out how to counteract other problems caused by weightlessness.

"It's the bathrooms in zero gravity that are the biggest challenge," he said. "How to accommodate the more intimate activities of the guests is not easy."

Galactic Suite began as a hobby for Claramunt, a former aerospace engineer, until an unnamed space enthusiast decided to make the dream a reality by fronting most of the $3 billion needed to build the hotel.

An American company intent on colonising Mars, which sees Galactic Suite as a first step, has since come on board, and private investors from Japan, the United States and the United Arab Emirates are also involved in talks.

The boutique hotel will have a joined- up pod structure - resembling a science class model of molecules - which will allow each pod room to fit inside a rocket for its journey into space. The hefty price tag for the three-day holiday in orbit will include eight weeks of intensive training at a James Bond-style space camp on a tropical island.

"There is a fear associated with going into space," Claramunt said. "That's why the shuttle rocket will remain fixed to the space hotel for the duration of the guests' stay, so they know they can get home again."

When guests are not admiring the view from their portholes, they will take part in experiments on space travel.

"We have calculated that there are 40,000 people in the world who could afford to stay at the hotel," Claramunt said. "Whether they will want to spend the money on going into space, we just don't know."

Despite the current concerns over the massive carbon footprint associated with long-distance travel, the company says it has no plans as yet to offset the pollution implications of using a rocket to carry just six guests at a time into space.

However Claramunt added: "I'm hopeful that the impact of seeing the Earth from a distance will stimulate the guests' urge to value and protect our planet."

While space travel may still be in the realms of science fiction for the majority of people, since the beginning of this century, it has become a real possibility for those with enough cash to spare.

In 2001, New Yorker Dennis Tito paid $20m to US-based Space Adventures for a seven-day trip to the International Space Station. Earlier this year, Hungarian-born billionaire Charles Simonyi became the fifth "space tourist", paying a similar amount for a 13-day trip to the orbiting station.

Richard Branson's space travel firm Virgin Galactic plans to offer sub-orbital trips at 400,000ft from the Mojave desert in the western US from next year. Around 200 people - including 35 UK citizens - have paid deposits on £100,000 three-hour flight tickets, but the company estimates that the cost of the trip could drop to £37,500 within five years.