U.S. entrepreneur to build first private space hotel
11:05, June 23, 2010 
Email | Print | Subscribe | Comments | Forum 
The solar system's first private space hotel is under construction by Bigelow Aerospace, a commercial space technology company created by U.S. hotel and aerospace entrepreneur Robert T. Bigelow, according to media reports Wednesday.
"The company plans to complete the construction within four years," Bigelow said.
In 2016, a second, larger station would follow. The two Bigelow stations would then be home to 36 people at a time — six times as many as currently live on the International Space Station, Bigelow added.
Now the models of this puffy space station lie in a factory near Las Vegas. It looks like a giant white watermelon.
It is estimated that a stay on a Bigelow station, including transportation, is currently priced at just under 25 million U.S. dollars a person for 30 days -- only half of the payment of a trip on Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station.
Source: Xinhuanet/Agencies
 |
（Editor：王千原雪）
A man visits "Thy Word Is Truth, the Bible Ministry Exhibition of the Protestant Church in China", during its opening at Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church in Washington DC, capital of the United States, Sept. 28, 2011. Through the Bible's various Chinese versions, ancient or modern, as well as pictures, paintings, calligraphy, art works and historical documents, the exhibition was expected to give an overall understanding of how Bible was brought into China, how it was translated, published, distributed and loved. (Xinhua/Zhang Jun)
A visitor passes by in the exhibition of Istanbul design week on Sept. 28, 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey. Istanbul design week will be hosting designers and design exhibitions from around the world in Istanbul from Sept 28 to Oct 2 with the participation of 25 countries. (Xinhua/Ma yan) 
Red flag flies at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province, Sept. 28, 2011. A spokesperson with China's manned space program said Wednesday that fuel has been injected into the Long March-2FT1 carrier rocket in preparation for launching the Tiangong-1 space module Thursday evening as planned. (Xinhua/Wang Jianmin) 
A militant loyal to the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) waves in a tank near Bani Walid, one of the pro-Muammar Gaddafi strongholds, on Sept. 28, 2011. (Xinhua/Hamza Turkia) 
Jewish worshippers pray at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City on Sept. 28, 2011, ahead of Rosh Hashanah, the two-day Jewish new year which will begin at sunset on Sept. 28 and conclude at nightfall on Sept. 30. (Xinhua/Muammar Awad) 
High school student Johanna Choapa is helped by her father after announcing the end of hunger strike in Santiago, capital of Chile, on Sept. 28, 2011. The end of the strike took place to make way for a dialogue with the government, seeking to resolve the four-month crisis in the education sector. (Xinhua/Jorge Villegas)
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/7036645.pdf