Russia to Open Space Hotel by 2016

A Russian company by the name of Orbital Technologies plans to build the world's first space hotel as a commercial alternative to the International Space Station. The hotel which is officially called Commercial Space Station will orbit at a height of some 350 kilometers above the earth and will have room for seven guest in four cabins with the most incredible views you're likely to get out of a window.

Passengers will be taken aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. While floating above the earth, guests will be able to watch TV and surf the internet. In the gravity free space cabins guests will have the option to sleep either vertically or horizontally. Washing will be done with wet-wipes, and toilets will use flowing air to move waste through the system and waste water will be recycled and filtered along with the air. Food prepared on earth will be freeze dried before being carried to the hotel. Also alcohol will be strictly prohibited.

A five-day package, not including the two day trip in both directions aboard a Soyuz rocket, will cost close to a million dollars. Orbital Technologies says that the design and development of the space station is underway, and it is expected to launch in 2016.

The images in this gallery are all computer generated, of course.