LAS VEGAS — Robert Bigelow was fascinated by UFOs as a child. Now he says he's willing to gamble $500 million that space fans will shell out big bucks to orbit the moon in a "space hotel" half a mile long.
If he has his way, in about 15 years space faithful will be able to climb aboard a commercial space shuttle, rocket out of Earth orbit, then dock and orbit the moon in a gargantuan space cruise ship.
"The time will come when the average citizen will be able to travel in space," Bigelow, a Las Vegas-based real estate tycoon and space aficionado, said recently. "If you have the money and the time, the trips will someday be available."
Space travel will be a bit pricey, according to Bigelow, owner of the Las Vegas-based Budget Suites of America lodging chain. He estimates the ticket for the extraterrestrial adventure will run about $500,000, but admits "that's just a wild, wild guess."
The lunar orbiter would be built in space, much like the International Space Station currently under construction.
Bigelow has hired Gregory Bennett, an aerospace engineer who worked for 15 years on the ISS, as vice president of development for Bigelow Aerospace. The company was formed in March and now has 17 employees working to privatize space travel.
He isn't alone in the notion that earthlings have an itch to make like an astronaut.
Hilton Hotels Inc. disclosed in September that it was looking into the feasibility of a space hotel.
"We want to take a hard look at it and see if Hilton can be the first into space," said Hilton spokeswoman Jeannie Datz. "It's certainly not going to happen tomorrow. We're talking 15 to 20 years down the road, if any of it makes sense."
A 1997 NASA study contends that space tourism represents a potential market worth billions of dollars if economic and technical barriers can be overcome.
Space Adventures, an Alexandria, Va.-based space tourism company, is already offering trips to the edge of space on a Russian MiG-25 Foxbat jet fighter. They say some 4,500 people have paid $12,000 each for the experience.
And the company plans to offer suborbital flights aboard a rocket in two to three years. Robert Pearlman, the company's director of communications, said more than 100 people have registered for the $90,000 flights, paying $6,000 deposits.
"Our dream is bringing the masses into space," Pearlman said in a telephone interview. He rejected suggestions that space travel is too remote for the masses.
