Tag: Bigelow
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Bigelow’s B330 – an autonomous, expandable independent exploration space station
While Bigelow Aerospace’s expandable module, BEAM, continues to perform above all expectations while attached to the International Space Station (ISS), the company has larger ambitions for its range of modules, centered around the B330 – a huge inflatable module. The key focus is on attracting NASA to select B330 as a transportation module for long-duration…
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ULA and Bigelow expand association with lunar depot plan
United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Bigelow Aerospace have updated their future plans via an agreement to launch a B330 module on a Vulcan rocket to an eventual home in Low Lunar Orbit. Set with a target date of 2022, the “Lunar Depot” could become a precursor to a Deep Space Gateway that NASA is interested…
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Williams enters BEAM for expandable module milestone
NASA astronaut Jeff Williams has ingressed the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) on Monday, the first time an American has entered an inflatable module in space. The milestone came after teams on the ground helped with a scavenger hunt on the Station to replace a missing part that was required for Monday’s historic event. BEAM:…
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ISS controllers complete BEAM module expansion
The International Space Station (ISS) gained a new module for the first time since March 2011 this weekend, with the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) expanded to its full size, bringing an end to an almost two-decade long effort to place an inflatable module on the station. The first expansion attempt did not go to…
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ISS controllers complete BEAM module expansion
The International Space Station (ISS) gained a new module for the first time since March 2011 this weekend, with the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) expanded to its full size, bringing an end to an almost two-decade long effort to place an inflatable module on the station. The first expansion attempt did not go to…
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55 years after Gagarin, ULA & Bigelow present commercial space stations
April 12, 1961: the USSR ushered in the era of human spaceflight with the launch of Yuri Gagarin on a single orbit flight of the Earth. Now 55 years after the historic first human spaceflight, United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Bigelow Aerospace have unveiled plans for the first ever commercial space stations. Vostok 1/Yuri Gagarin: How…
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ULA and Bigelow announce partnership for first commercial space stations
United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Bigelow Aerospace have announced a partnership agreement to launch two of Bigelow’s inflatable B330 space habitats. The modules would be designed and built by Bigelow Aerospace and launched by ULA’s veteran Atlas V rocket and would provide commercial, “democratized” access to Low Earth Orbit research facilities. The agreement: The announcement…
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Bigelow: Moon Property rights would help create a lunar industry
Robert Bigelow, founder and President of Bigelow Aerospace, believes that space property rights are essential in order to establish a space industry operating beyond Low Earth Orbit. In an effort to move forward the discussion on property rights, Bigelow is seeking clarification from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) on whether launching…
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Affordable habitats means more Buck Rogers for less money says Bigelow
Robert Bigelow, founder and President of Bigelow Aerospace, believes that cost effective habitats and transportation systems are key to America’s space explorations ambitions throughout the solar system. In expansive documentation provided to NASA, Bigelow Aerospace presented a fleet of vehicles that could enable humanity’s ambitions. Inflated Aspirations: In the first of two reports recently issued…
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From Space Station to Moon Base – Bigelow expands on inflatable ambitions
Two months after signing a non-funded Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA, Bigelow Aerospace has made great progress toward identifying new ideas for private-public partnerships for human space exploration of the solar system, with discussions complementing NASA’s near- and long-term exploration goals with the private sector’s burgeoning development of exploration facilities for Earth orbit and…