Space hotel taking reservations

A new hotel is going up, and it’s going up very high—in outer space. Galactic Suite, the world’s first space hotel, plans to open for business in 2012.

Guests will get to enjoy “space sports,” “surreal sleeping arrangements,” and—you guessed it—stargazing. They will see the sun rise 15 times a day as they travel around the world in 80 minutes. To move about in zero gravity, they will wear Velcro suits that let them stick to the walls of their pod rooms. To take a shower, they will go to a spa room with floating bubbles of water. (Accommodating other bathroom activities, however, is still proving to be a challenge.)

The three-bedroom hotel is already taking reservations (seriously, just check out the Web site) at $4 million for a three-day stay and eight-week training at a James Bond-style space camp on a tropical island. It’s a steal of a deal considering that Virgin Galactic is charging $200,000 for a mere seven minutes in space.

Of course, those with even more money can shoot for the moon. Space Adventures, a space tourism company, will be charging $100 million to take people around the moon as early as 2009. (Lunar tourists won’t actually land on the moon; they’ll just get incredible views.)

Unfortunately, the nascent space tourism industry will remain out of the reach of most of us Earthlings until prices come more down to Earth. But it’s still pretty cool.