Blog Layout

Welcome to the Starlab.

Space Hilton

Hotel giant Hilton has signed a contract with Voyager Space Holdings and Lockheed Martin to design astronaut facilities for the companies’ planned Starlab space station, CNBC reports , a NASA-funded orbital lab that is one day meant to replace the International Space Station.

The goal is to explore the concept of hospitality in space, a glimpse of a future in which vacationing in orbit has become a possibility.

“For decades, discoveries in space have been positively impacting life on Earth, and now Hilton will have an opportunity to use this unique environment to improve the guest experience wherever people travel,” Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta said in a statement.

Fresh Eyes

Needless to say, Hilton doesn’t have much experience when it comes to designing astronaut quarters. But the company is framing that as an advantage.

“It’s almost like looking at it with a fresh set of eyes and saying: ‘How do we reimagine this experience,'” Voyager chairman and CEO Dylan Taylor told CNBC.

It does, however, have a history designing off world hospitality installations. Back in the 1960s, the hotel chain designed both an orbital and lunar hotel , the former of which was famously depicted in Stanley Kubruck’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

If all goes well, Voyager and its operating company Nanoracks are hoping to launch the first Starlab space station as early as 2027, with the eventual goal of attaching several Starlab modules together, each serving a different purpose.

Nanoracks was awarded $160 million by NASA last year — the biggest slice of the pie — as part of the agency’s Commercial low-Earth orbit (LEO) Destinations program. Three other companies are also still in the running, with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origins receiving $130 million.

The reality of staying at a Hilton hotel in Earth’s orbit is still many years out — but that hasn’t stopped the private space industry from leveraging its commercial partnerships to start dreaming now.

Share This Article

By Laurence November 21, 2022
Usually, the winners of a pitching competition are bathed with accolades, media attention, and applause. After it’s done and dusted, all they have to think about is what to spend
By Laurence November 19, 2022
Above all else, FTX advertisements wanted you to know two things: that cryptocurrency is a force for good, and that you don’t need to be an expert to buy and
By Laurence November 19, 2022
This article was originally published on .cult by Luis Minvielle. .cult is a Berlin-based community platform for developers. We write about all things career-related, make original documentaries, and share heaps
By Laurence November 18, 2022
Okay, that’s a good question. Red Crew, Blue Crew Had it not been for the heroics of three members of NASA’s specialized “Red Crew,” NASA’s absolutely massive — and incredibly
By Laurence November 18, 2022
Pharmaceutical manufacturing is closely linked to mass production. In order for medicines to be sold cheaply, they often have to be made in huge amounts. But what happens if you
By Laurence November 17, 2022
“I’m in checkmark purgatory.” Checkmate They say “don’t meet your heroes,” but what’s even worse? When your hero buys Twitter, forces you and others to start paying eight dollars per
More Posts
Share by: