Russians Plan to Launch Space Hotel

A Russian firm has good news for would-be space tourists worried about lousy food or getting cramped by astronauts performing experiments. Orbital Technologies says it aims to have a "comfortable" space hotel circling the Earth by 2016, the BBC reports. Chief exec Sergei Kostenko says the hotel will have four cabins—complete with portholes—and the company is thinking about having celebrity chefs on the ground prepare meals for guests.

The station will be "designed specifically for tourists," who will be ferried up by shuttle, Kostenko tells the AP. "But it will be more comfortable than the International Space Station because there won't be any unnecessary scientific equipment." It's not clear how the company—one of three currently planning space hotels—plans to get the project off the ground, although it has named Russia's state-controlled spacecraft manufacturer as its general contractor. (More space hotel stories.)