Tag: Bigelow Aerospace

  • NASA chief warns of gap after retirement of International Space Station

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    File photo from the International Space Station as the outpost flew over the Nile River delta n Egypt in August 2019. Credit: NASA The International Space Station is likely to continue operating for another decade, but without more government support, a privately-owned outpost may not be ready in time to replace it, NASA Administrator Jim…

  • Bigelow announces plans for private astronaut flights to space station

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    NASA astronauts Bob Behnken (foreground) and Doug Hurley (background) train in a Crew Dragon simulator for their flight to the International Space Station. Credit: SpaceX/NASA Bigelow Space Operations says it will charge $52 million per seat to send private astronauts to the International Space Station aboard Crew Dragon ferry ships, and has already paid “substantial…

  • NASA wrestles with what to do with International Space Station after 2024

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    Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA’s human exploration and operations directorate (left), and Paul Martin, NASA’s inspector general (right), testify before the Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness on May 16. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky Lawmakers last week questioned the Trump administration’s proposal to end direct U.S. government support of the International Space Station in…

  • Bigelow’s expandable module goes into overtime on space station

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    European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli inside the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, after outfitting its interior for cargo stowage. Credit: NASA A commercial module mounted outside the International Space Station last year will remain attached to the orbiting research complex for at least three more years, carrying out additional tests for future space…

  • NASA picks 6 companies to develop prototype space habitats

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    STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Artist’s concept of a Lockheed Martin-built habitation system with the Orion capsule. Credit: Lockheed Martin NASA has selected six companies to work on designs for deep space habitat modules that could be used by astronauts living and working near the moon as technology is developed for eventual flights…

  • Video: BEAM welcomes first astronaut

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    International Space Station astronaut Jeff Williams opened the hatch and floated into the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, experimental habitat today for the first time. BEAM was launched April 8 and successfully expanded on May 28 for a two-year test of its durability in space. The crew will enter the module periodically to retrieve…

  • NASA calls off inflation of experimental station habitat

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    Mission control used this grid to chart the progress of BEAM’s expansion. Credit: NASA TV Mission control halted the expansion of Bigelow Aerospace’s experimental space station module Thursday after the structure did not grow as predicted when air began flowing into it. Working in the International Space Station’s Tranquility module, astronaut Jeff Williams opened a…

  • Bigelow’s station habitat to be expanded Thursday

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    Artist’s concept of an astronaut entering BEAM. Credit: NASA Space station flight engineer Jeff Williams will send commands Thursday to pump air into an experimental soft-sided module developed by commercial space habitat builder Bigelow Aerospace, expanding the structure to four times its current size in a stepping stone to future orbital destinations. The Bigelow Expandable…

  • Expandable room installed on space station

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    Updated after BEAM installation. Credit: NASA/Tim Kopra The International Space Station’s robotic arm, under the control of engineers on Earth, extracted an experimental inflatable habitat from the trunk of SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship Saturday and attached it to the orbiting complex. Made by Bigelow Aerospace, the new module will spend two years on the space station…

  • Atlas 5 to launch commercial space habitat for Bigelow Aerospace

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    An illustration of Bigelow module launching atop Atlas 5. Credit: ULA The maker of inflatable technology for a commercial space station will use a top-of-the-line Atlas 5 rocket with a stretched nose cone to hoist the first habitat into Earth orbit in 2020. Bigelow Aerospace and United Launch Alliance announced the partnership today at the…