When Atlantis launched on Friday morning, it was the last of NASA's space shuttle flights. 
 
 The event marks the end of a 30-year program that has put 777 people in orbit. 
 
 But it is not the end of space exploration in the United States. Companies have been engaging in a private sector space race alongside and in partnership with NASA for quite some time. 
 
 In April, NASA awarded four of these companies $269 million to develop spacecraft, and companies in the private sector have also established expertise in other aspects of space travel, like space suits and climate control. Some are even famously selling tickets for consumer space flights. 
 
 Here are what some of them are working on. ||||| 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The age of space tourism might be closer than you think. In fact, if you have an extra $1 million lying around, five years from now you could be one of the first off-world adventurers to stay for five days in this orbiting hotel built by Russian company Orbital Technologies. 
 
 You'll get there via a Russian Soyuz rocket, taking you about a day to reach the Commercial Space Station 217 miles above the earth. Once you catch up to the orbiting abode, you'll settle in with your comrades — up to six other space tourists (or researchers) — for an unparalleled adventure, residing in four cabins aboard the space station. 
 
 While you're traveling at 17,500 miles per hour in low earth orbit, you'll be pampered with all the spacely amenities you can imagine, such as plenty of gourmet foods, a specially designed sealed shower, your choice of a vertical or horizontal bed (does it really matter in the microgravity of space?), and you might even get to sip some Tang spiked with your favorite vodka (okay, we made that last one up — unfortunately, alcohol will not be available). 
 
 Perhaps the best feature of the Commercial Space Station will be its large portholes, which will probably occupy most of your time as you gaze out into the cosmos and down at the earth below. 
 
 We're just wondering if this trip can really be done for $1 million apiece, when Russia and the U.S. agreed in 2009 on a $51 million price for each Soyuz round trip. No matter what, it's not going to be cheap. We can only hope there will be many private space ventures in operation during the next decade or two (so far, we've counted 9 private sector companies ready to take off into space), creating a competitive environment for such spectacular vacations that could bring the price down to mere stratospheric levels. 
 
 [via International Business Times and DVICE]
– A mere million bucks will soon earn you five days in a futuristic hotel, as long as you enjoy traveling at 17,500 miles an hour and having stellar views of planet Earth. The nimbly titled Commercial Space Station, designed by a Russian company, is the latest in a series of private sector plans to lure millionaires into casual space travel. It includes gourmet foods, a space-age shower, and choice of horizontal or vertical bed. Booze, however, is a no-no, notes International Business Times. Mashable can't help wondering whether the $1 million price tag is realistic, considering that the US and Russia recently agreed that a round-trip to outer space on a Soyuz rocket would gobble up $51 million. If Commercial Space Station proves too costly when it premieres in 2016, you can always aim for one of the nine other private space journeys currently in the works.