For Entrepreneur, ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ Is a Down-to-Earth Invitation

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.

“I think most of the public has moved past the giggle factor of space tourism,” Pearlman said. “They see this as a very real experience.”

Bigelow’s fascination with other planets can be traced to 1947, when his grandparents told him of spotting an unidentified flying object in the desert near Las Vegas.

Today he is spending some of the fortune he earned through his Budget Suites chain to fund the Consciousness Studies program at UNLV.

Is the idea of private citizens circling the moon a throwback to Buck Rogers?

“I’m a confirmed believer in the existence of UFOs, so how could I pooh-pooh Buck Rogers stuff?” Bigelow replied. “This kind of stuff is not Buck Rogers. It’s around the corner.

“The next century is not a competition between the United States and Russia anymore,” Bigelow said. “China and Europe are very much in the space race. It’s a whole new ballgame starting in the next century. It’s already begun. The European Space Agency, the Japanese, the Chinese are all very serious competitors” in the race to privatize space.

A key to the success of any orbiting “space hotel” would be the ability to get passengers from Earth to low Earth orbit, where transporters could dock with the giant vessel.

“We’re terribly codependent on the success of launcher systems that can move people [into orbit],” Bigelow said. “We’re building a stadium, and if the people are not able to get there, the stadium will be useless. We will stop short if the launch systems are not there.”

The space hotel would carry about 100 passengers and a crew of 50, Bigelow said.

Next would be a two- or three-day trip to the moon, then the experience of lunar orbit.

The giant space vessel Bigelow envisions would have powerful lights to illuminate the back side of the moon.

“It would be something almost spiritual in nature,” Bigelow said. “Even hardened astronauts find this something of a spiritual experience.”

Pearlman believes a “space hotel” such as Bigelow envisions could be the best ticket for orbital flight.

“The best way is to find a docking facility, leave passengers there a couple of days, then bring them back to Earth,” Pearlman said.

Public space travel must be safe and enjoyable, Bigelow said.

“One of the worst things you could have would be a fatal accident early on,” Bigelow said. “You can kill 40,000 people a year in car accidents and it’s not devastating to the auto industry.”