Looking for a hotel room for your next vacation where money really is no object? Then this is the place for you. It’s called the Galactic Suites and it’s an inn that’s out of this world. Literally. It’s the world’s first space hotel and if you have to ask how much it costs to stay there, you can’t afford to.

The hotel is the brainchild of Xavier Claramunt, a former aerospace engineer who once amused himself by imagining what such a place would look like. But it was just an idea until an unnamed investor with big dreams – and an even bigger wallet – stepped forward and put up an astounding $3 million to allow the scheme to become a reality. Or at least it will be once Claramunt gets through the planning stages. Other investors have since joined in this strange ultimate getaway plan.

This place in space will require guests to take an intensive eight week training course on a tropical island just to stay there. Only six people can go to the destination at a time, and each will reside in a ‘pod’-like room that gives them a view of that big blue marble they just left. But if getting there won’t be easy, neither will getting around once you arrive. Guests will have to wear Velcro suits and cling to the walls like modern day Spider-Men (and Women) in order to go from one section to another.

And then there are those other delicate issues – like answering the call of nature so far from home. “It’s the bathrooms in zero gravity that are the biggest challenge,” Claramunt admits. “How to accommodate the more intimate activities of the guests is not easy.” And what about taking a shower? There’s a sort of spa that features bubbles of water that float around. All you have to do is catch up to them and you’re clean. The rest of the time, you’re expected to do some kind of experiments that will benefit science and justify your time aloft.

Still, there are advantages. Like Captain Kirk, you’ll be going where no man has gone before. And you’ll be able to go around the world not in 80 days but in 80 minutes, as well as seeing the sunrise 15 times a day.

So how much will it cost to take this vaunted and valuable vacation? You get just three days on board for an astonishing $4 million. And unbelievably, those behind the scheme expect some people with money to burn will actually take advantage of the offer. “We have calculated that there are 40,000 people in the world who could afford to stay at the hotel,” the entrepreneur with his head beyond the clouds avers. “Whether they will want to spend money on going into space, we just don’t know.”

But he feels sure there’s enough to make this venture, you should pardon the expression, fly. There have been rich space tourists who have gone aloft before on Russian rockets for a visit to the International Space Station. But this is the first time they’ll ever have an actual special place to stay. We just don’t want to guess how long it might take to get room service – or what kind of tip you’ll have to hand over once it’s delivered.

The Galactic Suites are scheduled to ‘open’ in 2012.

For more on the hotel, click here.

To take a peek at what it may look like, click here.

Photo courtesy: Galactic Suites

What was supposed to be a fun ride on an amusement park Ferris wheel turned into a tragedy that claimed the lives of five family members in South Korea Monday.

Seven family members were riding in a car on the wheel when the capsule unexpectedly turned over, dumping the family out and sending them plunging 20 metres to their deaths.

Two members of the family clung to handholds and survived without injury, police officer Yoon Jae-man said. Unfortunately, the others weren’t so lucky.

Jeon Un-sung, 70, one of those rescued from the ill-fated car in the southern city of Busan, said “the slowly moving gondola suddenly stopped and turned upside down and family members fell in a flash” when the window behind the seats fell out of the car.

Among the dead were a 68-year-old woman, a seven-year-old boy and a 28-year-old woman who survived the initial fall and was taken to hospital where she later died. The two other victims are unidentified.

The ride in question is the 66-metre-high “Giant Wheel,” which boasted 42 cars and was among 30 rides at the World Carnival mobile amusement park that opened in Busan in July for a 40-day run. Previously, the carnival was in Hong Kong.

Police are still investigating the fatal accident and interviewing witnesses.

Photo Credit: Choi Jae-Ho/AFP/Getty Images 

Taken From Citynwes.ca