---
title: "Hilton Hired to Design Suites for Space Station Replacing ISS"
description: "Hotel giant Hilton has signed a contract with Voyager Space Holdings and Lockheed Martin to design astronaut facilities for the Starlab space station."
date: "2022-09-21"
modified: "2022-09-21"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/hilton-hotel-space-station"
categories:
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "hilton"
  - "NASA"
  - "private space stations"
  - "the digest"
---

# Hilton Hired to Design Suites for Space Station Replacing ISS

![Hotel giant Hilton has signed a contract with Voyager Space Holdings and Lockheed Martin to design astronaut facilities for the Starlab space station.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/hilton-hotel-space-station.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Nanoracks\</em\>*

## Space Hilton

Hotel giant Hilton has [signed a contract](<https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4112511.html>) with Voyager Space Holdings and Lockheed Martin to design astronaut facilities for the companies' planned Starlab space station, [*CNBC* reports](<https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/19/hilton-partners-with-voyager-starlab-space-station-to-design-astronaut-suites.html>), a NASA-funded orbital lab that is one day meant to replace the International Space Station.

The goal is to explore the concept of hospitality in space, a glimpse of a future in which vacationing in orbit has become a possibility.

"For decades, discoveries in space have been positively impacting life on Earth, and now Hilton will have an opportunity to use this unique environment to improve the guest experience wherever people travel," Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta said in [a statement](<https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4112511.html>).

## Fresh Eyes

Needless to say, Hilton doesn't have much experience when it comes to designing astronaut quarters. But the company is framing that as an advantage.

"It’s almost like looking at it with a fresh set of eyes and saying: ‘How do we reimagine this experience,'" Voyager chairman and CEO Dylan Taylor told *CNBC*.

It does, however, have a history designing off world hospitality installations. Back in the 1960s, the hotel chain [designed both an orbital and lunar hotel](<https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/hilton-hotel-on-moon-scn-cmd/index.html>), the former of which was famously depicted in Stanley Kubruck's "2001: A Space Odyssey."

If all goes well, Voyager and its operating company Nanoracks are hoping to launch the first Starlab space station as early as 2027, with the eventual goal of attaching several Starlab modules together, each serving a different purpose.

Nanoracks [was awarded $160 million](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-blue-origin-space-station>) by NASA last year — the biggest slice of the pie — as part of the agency's Commercial low-Earth orbit (LEO) Destinations program. Three other companies are also still in the running, with Jeff Bezos' Blue Origins receiving $130 million.

The reality of staying at a Hilton hotel in Earth's orbit is still many years out — but that hasn't stopped the private space industry from leveraging its commercial partnerships to start dreaming now.

**READ MORE:** [Hilton to design astronaut suites, facilities for Voyager’s private space station Starlab](<https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/19/hilton-partners-with-voyager-starlab-space-station-to-design-astronaut-suites.html>) \[*CNBC*\]

**More on private space stations:** *[NASA Paying Blue Origin $130 Million for New Space Station](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-blue-origin-space-station>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)