The Speculist

Here we go again:

Still, when it comes to grand ambition, the impresarios of the Strip are mere pikers next to Budget Suites owner Robert Bigelow. For his next hotel enterprise, Bigelow is looking beyond the bright lights of Las Vegas—beyond Earth’s atmosphere, in fact. He is actively engaged in an effort to build the planet’s first orbiting space hotel. Bargain-basement room rate: $1 million a night. For its water show, this hotel will have all of Earth’s blue oceans flying past its windows at 17,500 miles an hour. Guests on board the 330-cubic-meter station (about the size of a three-bedroom house) will learn weightless acrobatics, marvel at the ever-changing face of the home planet, and, for half of every 90-minute orbit, gaze deep into a galaxy ablaze with stars.

Well, it sounds great, but I stand by my position that the first hotel in space should be sub-orbital. Stationary, in fact. Okay, the tourists won't "get" to experience zero-G, but they will have the same great view.

Oh, and I think they could get a night in a sub-orbital airship hotel for about $10,000 per night. Or less. Ironically, unlike Bigelow's proposal, the airship hotel would be the Budget Suites of space.

via GeekPress

UPDATE FROM STEPHEN:

Here's the suborbital view that Phil was talking about. This picture was made by JP Aerospace during an April 2004 mission.

JP Aerospace is working toward the creation of a "Dark Sky" Station that would serve as a way station for an "Airship to Orbit" space program (pdf link). Such a way station is necessary because a sturdy airship is needed to navigate in the lower atmosphere and an entirely different kind of airship is needed to complete the journey into orbit.

And it would be an obvious tourist attraction.