Tourists, who will be accompanied by experienced crew, will dine on food prepared on Earth and sent up on the rocket, to be reheated in microwave ovens. Delicacies such as braisedveal cheeks with wild mushrooms, white bean puree, potato soup and plum compote, will all be available.

Iced tea, mineral water and fruit juices will be available, but alcohol will be strictly prohibited. Toilets will use flowing air instead of water to move waste through the system. Waste water will be recycled, while the air will be filtered to remove odour and bacteria and then returned to the cabin.

Sergei Kostenko, chief executive of Orbital Technologies which will construct the hotel, said: ‘Our planned module inside will not remind you of the International Space Station. A hotel should be comfortable inside, and it will be possible to look at the Earth through large portholes.

‘The hotel will be aimed at wealthy individuals and people working for private companies who want to do research in space.’

Tourists might also find themselves playing host to unexpected guests – there is a plan for the hotel to be used as an emergency boltholefor astronauts aboard the International Space Station if there is a crisis, rather than bringing them all the way back to Earth.

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)

如果你已經厭倦了地中海，也不再想去迪斯尼樂園，或許是時候來一次盛夏太空之旅了。那絕對是避開人潮的好去處。

隨著太空旅游大戰升溫，俄羅斯已宣布將建造首座太空旅館，這座旅館位于距地面217英里的高空，而且服務一流。

太空旅館的4個客艙可容納7位房客。在住宿體驗方面，游客不僅可以通過巨型舷窗俯瞰地球美景，還可品嘗微波爐美食，而不必吃宇航員們常吃的經過凍干管狀食物。

前往太空旅館本身就是一次大冒險——要搭乘兩天的聯盟號飛船——而且出游價格不菲：住五天就要花費10萬英鎊，另有50萬英鎊的旅程費。

這家旅館（更準確地說應該叫商務太空站）將于2016年開業。內部人士稱，這比宇航員住的國際空間站要舒服多了。

在失重的太空里，游客們可以選擇“站著”睡或者平躺著睡。淋浴間全密閉，以防水珠亂濺。（在回家前，國際空間站的宇航員只能用海綿擦身。）

旅館“服務生”都是經驗豐富的宇航員，所食用的食物是事先在地球上準備好的，由火箭運到太空，再在微波爐里加熱。美食應有盡有，像野蘑菇燉牛肉、白豌豆泥、土豆湯、李子蜜餞等。

冰茶、礦泉水和果汁也都一應俱全，唯獨酒是嚴厲禁止的。洗手間不用水而用流動的空氣來派出穢物。廢水會被循環利用，空氣經過濾去除異味和細菌后再回到客艙里。

軌道科技公司將負責建造這家旅館，總裁塞格柯斯登斯說：“我們設計的模型不會讓你聯想起國際空間站。旅館應該是很舒適的，通過大大的舷窗可以看到地球。”

“這家旅館的目標顧客是超級富豪，和想進行太空研究的私人公司中的職員。”