Guests on Commercial Space Station Will Stay in Suites Designed by Hilton
They're going to need to velcro the mints to the pillows on board the future Starlab.
Currently, a stay on a space station is a cramped affair, with astronauts strapped into cocoons to keep them from floating about while they snooze. Hilton, known for its high-end hotels, is hoping to fancy things up a bit when the Starlab commercial space station gets going.
Starlab is a joint project from space company Nanoracks, its majority shareholder Voyager Space, and Lockheed Martin. Hilton has signed on to design crew lodging and hospitality suites to make "extended stays more comfortable."
Details are slim after the Tuesday announcement, but Hilton and Voyager Space dropped phrases like "guest experience" and "warmth of hospitality." It leaves a lot to the imagination. Will it have a pillow menu? A complimentary continental breakfast?
Starlab is expected to host space tourists as well as serious science work in a state-of-the-art laboratory. It's meant to step in to provide a low-Earth orbit facility as the International Space Station reaches the end of its life. Starlab could be operational by 2027.
The Hilton partnership shows Voyager Space's commitment to the space tourism part of the equation. Even better, those space visitors might get some fresh-baked treats. Doubletree by Hilton sponsored a successful cookie-making experiment on the ISS. When asked what space smells like, Starlab guests might answer, "Chocolate chip cookies."