Project Description: This orbiting space hotel is meant to be built in the inflatable TransHab module because of its bigger dimensions in comparison to the traditional aluminium ones. It could be linked to both the International Space Station ( ISS) or private future space platforms. The hotel provides a habitat for twelve (the minimum number of people necessary to have meaningful social life) to sixteen people, similar to a cruise ship but in a smaller confined space. At the present time the TransHab interior layout consists of four levels (from the bottom to the top): the fourth is the entry tunnel and the other three are the habitat. These last three levels are arranged vertically one above the other. They are in part communicating and the height of the living room is double that of the others. The design of this hotel maintains the TransHab's vertical, terrestrial zone distribution (the four levels) but the planned lifestyle in the hotel follows a different logic because it exploits all possible directions, benefiting from the zero-g gravity conditions. In fact, the main goal of the project is to enjoy oneself in a completely new environment.

The hotel has six private rooms, two shorter and four larger ones, which are placed on the second and third levels of the module, each with a private bathroom. These rooms could host from one to three or four people. In contrast to the small volume of these private areas, the hotel has broad spaces for social activities on every level where guests can experiment zero-g gravity socializing, eating, dancing, reading, playing games, etc. These common areas fill almost two-thirds of the entire volume of the TransHab. They communicate with each other and some are twice as height. They consist of: an entry area, a restaurant, a bar-fun zone-discotheque, a health care room to monitor possible illnesses, a gymnasium to maintain

basic physical fitness, and two lounges in which tourists can relax, eat snacks, read (there is a library), listen to music, and communicate with Earth. Obviously, much attention has been given to the shapes, materials and colours of the internal environment in order to facilitate life, activities and recognition, hopefully with a new and futuristic design.

The traditional TransHab layout has been slightly modified because the hotel provides activities and functions different from those currently present on the TransHab. From a structural point of view, nothing has been changed except the safe haven area inside the water tank (a protective unit against radiation) in the structural core. Currently in the TransHab, the safe haven area occupies only the second level and it is divided into six private cabins reserved for the crew, in particular, during dangerous radiation periods. In the hotel, this volume has been doubled and it forms the lounges described above, in order to hold all of the guests. It would be closed for safety in the case of an emergency, or left open as recreational areas during the vacation. These two areas are to be placed on the second and third levels and connected by a central empty passage.

The spacious, communicating common rooms allow for easy air flow and air change, which is mechanically aided by fans distributed throughout the hotel, including the private rooms. The workstation for the control of the hotel is placed in a different external module supervised by the crew and linked to the TransHab.

Finally, with the exception of the technical units, such as toilets, racks, etc., and a few furnishings, the whole interior is designed with inflatable furniture, which can be compacted, reduced to an absolute minimum volume and loaded into the Shuttle bay. Once in orbit, it would be necessary only to deploy and inflate the TransHab module, to configure the structural frames and, in the end, to inflate the interior furniture. Only two Shuttle launches are necessary to assemble the whole hotel, thus finishing in the shortest time possible, and with the lowest costs.