BEAM Inflatable Habitat to Launch to Space Station Next Week

An inflatable room that will be attached to the International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled to launch toward the orbiting laboratory next week. The room, known as Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), was built by Bigelow Aerospace, a private company that has built other expandable space habitats in the past and has plans to continue to do so. BEAM will be the first such room to be tested on the ISS, and the first to be (briefly) occupied by astronauts. BEAM will not be a fully functional addition to the space station. However, astronauts will enter it for a few hours at a time — about four times a year for two years, Bigelow representatives said in a NASA media teleconference yesterday (March 28). More

(Source: Space.com - Mar 31)