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Orbiting œuf: the module’s padded,<br />
LED-lit, ‘egg-like’ interior<br />
AXIOM SPACE<br />
Room with a view<br />
Take a trip around the world – 16 times a day. Welcome to NASA’s new hotel<br />
French designer Philippe Starck<br />
has helmed some prestigious<br />
projects – the interior of French<br />
president François Mitterrand’s<br />
private apartment at the Élysée<br />
Palace in the early ’80s, for<br />
example, or the architecture of<br />
Steve Job’s yacht Venus – but<br />
none has been as out of this<br />
world as his latest: a ‘hotel’<br />
attached to the International<br />
Space Station.<br />
As part of a drive to privatise<br />
the ageing ISS, NASA has<br />
chosen Houston start-up Axiom<br />
Space to develop three modules<br />
that will attach to one of the<br />
<strong>The</strong> vista from the Axiom Segment: if you like a sea view, you’re in luck<br />
ISS’ docking ports. <strong>The</strong> ‘Axiom<br />
Segment’ will incorporate a<br />
microgravity research and<br />
manufacturing environment, a<br />
360° domed observatory with<br />
spectacular views of Earth, and<br />
a habitation module. It’s in the<br />
latter that Starck’s aesthetic<br />
credentials come into play. <strong>The</strong><br />
interior, padded in a suede-like<br />
material, is described as “a<br />
nest, a friendly and comfortable<br />
egg [with] materials and<br />
colours stemmed from a foetal<br />
universe”. And nano-LEDs line<br />
the walls, changing colour to<br />
match views of Earth as the<br />
ISS moves through 16 sunrises<br />
and sunsets each day.<br />
“I’m thrilled to play a part<br />
in this project – space is the<br />
intelligence of the future,”<br />
says Starck. Future being the<br />
operative word – the first<br />
module won’t be open until<br />
2024. When the habitation<br />
module is in place, it’ll play host<br />
to only those who can afford<br />
the commercial spaceflight<br />
on the likes of SpaceX’s Crew<br />
Dragon (around £42.5m) or<br />
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner<br />
(almost £70m). And when the<br />
ISS is decommissioned in<br />
2028, the Axiom Segment will<br />
detach and continue to operate<br />
as a free-flying space station.<br />
“Our goal is to advance the<br />
state of humanity and human<br />
knowledge,” says Axiom<br />
co-founder and executive<br />
chairman Dr Kam Ghaffarian.<br />
“To mark a shift in our<br />
society similar to that which<br />
astronauts undergo when they<br />
see the planet from above.”<br />
axiomspace.com<br />
AXIOM LOU BOYD<br />
22 THE RED BULLETIN
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