The design of the groundbreaking space hotel, the Von Braun station, is revealed

(CNN) – It's been 50 years since man walked for the first time on the moon and we still dream of escaping life on Earth for the mysteries of space.

If your career as an astronaut does not suit you, the promise of a stay in a space hotel could be attractive.

Among the stars

According to the video and images rendered digitally by the Gateway Foundation, the station looks like a rotating wheel made of 24 modules orbiting the Earth.

But how would the physics of the hotel work?

Tim Alatorre, lead design architect at the Gateway Foundation, said the rotating wheel would create a simulated gravity.

According to Alatorre, there is no artificial gravity near the center of the station, but as you move out of the station, the feeling of gravity increases.

The design of the Gateway Foundation hotel is named after Wernher von Braun, an aerospace engineer who pioneered rocket technology, first in Germany and then in the United States.

This could be considered a controversial gesture. Living in Germany, von Braun participated in the Nazi rocket development program. He then worked for the Apollo Space Program in the United States.

The name was voted on by members of the Gateway Foundation because the station is based on von Braun's drawings drawn about 60 years ago.

"The basic physics of the station has not changed since the 1950s, the way the station runs," said Alatorre.

The main difference lies in the modern materials – new metal alloys, carbon composites, 3D printing and launching pad technology that, according to Mr. Alatorre, make it more likely a space hotel in our present time.

Space tourism is an expensive game: Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson, plans to launch passengers in the suborbital space at $ 250,000 per person per trip.

For its part, the Aurora station says that a stay in its space hotel will cost $ 9.5 million.

Regarding the prices, in the early stages, the hotel Von Braun will also address those who have dollars to spend, but the foundation hopes to make it equivalent to "a cruise trip or a trip to Disneyland ".

The Aurora station should only accommodate 12 people, while the Von Braun station will accommodate 352 people for a maximum capacity of 450 people.

Warm aesthetics

So what will the Von Braun train station look like inside?

Alatorre said that the hotel's aesthetic was a direct response to Stanley Kubrick's film "2001: Space Odyssey" – but maybe not in the way that you think.

"It was almost a plan of what not to do," said Alatorre. "I think Stanley Kubrick's goal was to highlight the gap between technology and humanity, so he purposely wanted to make stations and ships very barren, clean and foreign."

Instead, Alatorre wanted to bring a slice of earth into space, to avoid an exaggerated laboratory feeling related to Star Trek.

On board, you'll find cozy suites with carpets, elegant monochrome touches and classy bars that do not look like those on Earth, but offer breathtaking views.

There will also be many fun recreational activities for guests, says Alatorre.

"We will have a number of recreational and gaming activities that will emphasize the fact that you are able to do things you can not do on Earth," he said. "Because of the weightlessness and reduced gravity, you will be able to jump higher, be able to lift objects, be able to run in a way that you can not on Earth."

According to Alatorre, a sport called "big basketball" is an interesting concept.

& # 39; Culture of the spaceship & # 39;

If all this sounds like a space age gimmick, Alatorre insists that the concept will have a widespread and lasting appeal.

"People will want to experience just because it's a new cool thing and they've never done it before," he admits.

"But our goal – the overall goal of the Gateway Foundation – is to create a spaceship culture where people go into space and live in space, and work in the city. space and want to be in space.And we believe that there is a demand for that. "

This means that space must be a place where thousands of people "live, work and prosper".

The Gateway Foundation also wants the space station to be used for research purposes, as well as for the extraction of asteroids.

Alatorre says that the hotel Von Braun wants to be "the first in orbit", but that even though the Gateway Foundation is not launching by 2025, the company knows that one of its competitors the will.

Space tourism is the future, he says, and the Gateway Foundation believes that the future is imminent.

Durability in space

Since design is always exactly that – just a design – there are still some unanswered questions about the actual operation of the space hotel.

For example, it has been suggested that living in low severity for a prolonged period of time would be harmful to the human body. Vacationers will probably visit the hotel only a few weeks, but staff plans to stay there for six months to a year.

According to Alatorre, they will adjust schedules as needed, but for now, the foundation thinks this proposal would be "perfectly safe".

There is also the question of sustainability, while people are looking for a greener vacation, going into the space is surely not the solution?

Alatorre refers to SpaceX's Raptor engine, which uses methane instead of petroleum-based fuel, suggesting that "environmentally friendly" rocket designs are the future.

He says that recycling will be woven into the fabric of this hotel.

"On the resort itself, it will be the most environmentally friendly vacation you'll ever have, because we recycle everything," says Alatorre.

"No amount of water, waste or waste will be thrown away, everything will be recycled, reused, stored, converted into another form."

The onshore construction of the Gateway Foundation project is scheduled to begin October 1, 2019.