Hilton is ready to take its hospitality beyond the planet.
The hotel giant will move to a future orbital space station called Starlab along with Nanoracks, Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin, which first announced the orbital facility in 2021.
“Hilton will bring its renowned hospitality expertise to support the design and development of the crew cabins aboard Starlab, helping to reimagine the human experience in space, making extended stays more comfortable,” the officials said in a joint statement. (will open in a new tab) Tuesday (September 20).
Starlab is one of many private space stations that NASA hopes will replace the International Space Station in the next decade. While NASA’s ISS operations were recently extended by six years until 2030, the agency is planning follow-up space stations, which it says will be private.
Related: NASA seeks private outposts to build on International Space Station legacy
Voyager and Nanoracks received $160 million in NASA early stage funding in December 2021. The contract is part of design contracts worth approximately $416 million. million) and Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. ($125.6 million).
Critics say the agency is not doing enough to advance the space stations fast enough and that they may not be ready in time when the ISS program ends around 2030 if all goes according to plan. (Main ISS partner Russia has announced it will withdraw from the partnership after 2024 to pursue its own Russian space station.)
Pictured: Russia wants to build its own space station as early as 2028
When it’s ready, Starlab should have room to house up to four astronauts at once, as well as a lab called the George Washington Carver Science Park. (Nanoracks has been doing scientific research on the US side of the ISS for more than a decade.)
In the space world, Hilton is best known for launching the first cookie to be baked in space under its DoubleTree brand. The entity later hinted at at the Smithsonian may show at least one of the chocolate chip cookies that returned to Earth in January 2020.
Going forward, Hilton and Voyager plan to work together on the architecture and design of Starlab. The private space station will include hotel rooms, sleeping quarters and public areas for astronauts to visit. Going forward, the two teams plan to create an “astronaut space experience” as well as branding opportunities and efforts in tourism, education and commercial activities.
Related: Hilton DoubleTree Cookie Dough Launches With Zero Gravity Oven For Space Station
Artistic illustration of the Starlab private space station hovering above the Earth. Several solar panels are extended outward in an “X” shape on the left side of the image, while a large, rounded white capsule extends to the right. (Image credit: Nanoracks/Lockheed Martin/Voyager Space)
The announcement, made during the 2022 International Astronautical Congress in Paris, was published among other works by the three companies participating in Starlab.
New terrestrial analogue (will open in a new tab) The Starlab G Science Park will be located in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio, announced Voyager Space on Monday (September 19). The cooperation also announced memorandums of understanding (will open in a new tab) (MOU) to unlock space opportunities with the Colombian Space Agency, the Salvadoran Aerospace Institute, the Mexican Space Agency, the Guatemalan Association of Space Science and Technology, and the Costa Rican startup Orbital Space Technologies.
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