Category Archives: Space Station

Installing the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module on the Space Station | NASA ISS Science Video
Visit my website at http://www.junglejoel.com - here #39;s an animation of the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module being extracted and attached to the International Space Station. Once attached, the module is then inflated. Please rate and comment, thanks! Video Credits NASA

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Installing the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module on the Space Station | NASA ISS Science Video - Video

-Teaser- Space Station Clean-Up Crew (Killing Floor)
Teaser video for a Machinima video my friends and I are working on. Featuring Killing floor game play with a SS13 plot, coming sometime in a week or so. Like if you enjoyed the video, it helps spread the channel! Sub for more and to stay tuned! Follow me on: twitter.com Ask me Questions: http://www.formspring.me Channels that you should check out! http://www.youtube.com http://www.youtube.com

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-Teaser- Space Station Clean-Up Crew (Killing Floor) - Video

The International Space Station shoots across the sky as the full moon shines over Half Dome at Yosemite National Park in this beautiful image.

Scott McGuire took this photo on Oct. 28, 2012 from Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park, Calif. He used a Pentax K-5 camera and a Pentax 15mm Limited lens to capture the photo.

"I was at Glacier Point to photograph the sunset and full moon, theInternational Space Station was an unexpected bonus," McGuire wrote SPACE.com in an email.

Half Dome is a large peak rising 5,000 miles above Yosemite Valley. The steep, granite mountain is one of the most popular hikes in Yosemite National Park.

With a wingspan as long as a football field, the International Space Station is the largest human-made structure in space. The spacecraft is home to six astronauts representing the United States, Russia and Canada, and has the same living space as a five-bedroom home.

The space station can be easily seen from Earth by the unaided eye, if you know where and when to look. At times, it can even rival Venus, the brightest planet in the night sky, with its intensity. NASA recently launched a newSpot the Station website that allows stargazers to sign up for text messages to learn when the orbiting laboratory will be flying over their location.

Editor's note:If you snap an amazing photo of Venus and the moon, or any other night sky object, thatyou'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, send photos, comments and your name and location to managing editor Tariq Malik atspacephotos@space.com.

Follow Space.com on Twitter @SPACEdotcom. We're also onFacebook&Google+.

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Space Station and Full Moon Glow in Yosemite Night Sky (Photo)

VVVVVV (3): Space Station Two
Don #39;t tell me what trinkets I can and can #39;t collect, chump. SA thread: forums.somethingawful.com Game info here: thelettervsixtim.es Soundtrack here: http://www.souleye.se Preview tracks heard in the video here: souleyedigitalmusic.bandcamp.com souleyedigitalmusic.bandcamp.com

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VVVVVV (3): Space Station Two - Video

NASA, building the International Space Station over the last two decades, ran into ballooning costs. One solution it's now embraced is ballooning -- literally -- in orbit.

NASA has signed a $17.8 million contract with Bigelow Aerospace, a firm based near Las Vegas, to build an inflatable habitat that could be added to the space station by 2015. The new compartment is called BEAM, short for Bigelow Expandable Activity Module.

In announcing the deal, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said a lightweight, inflatable compartment could be dramatically cheaper than the metal cylinders that make up most of the space station's living area.

"Let's face it; the most expensive aspect of taking things in space is the launch," she said. "So the magnitude of importance of this for NASA really can't be overstated."

Bigelow's mastermind is Robert Bigelow, an entrepreneur who made his fortune in construction and hotels -- the Budget Suites chain of extended-stay hotels is his. Now he's taken extended stays to higher levels; since 2006 Bigelow has successfully launched two inflatable prototype spacecraft into orbit.

BEAM would be folded up in the nose of a rocket -- perhaps one supplied by Elon Musk's SpaceX company -- and inflated after it is attached to a port on the space station. The prototype would be 13 feet across, but later versions could be three times as roomy as the cylindrical chambers that now make up the station -- at less cost.

When Bigelow says "inflatable," don't think of something like a balloon. The outer skin has multiple layers, some of them made of bulletproof Vectran fibers. It might have a little give, but it would be as tough as snow tires. Bigelow has suggested that micrometeoroids might actually bounce off instead of puncturing a ship's metal walls.

The technology, actually, was originally NASA's. It made plans for inflatable living quarters for the space station, but canceled them in the face of budget cuts, and licensed its patent to Bigelow.

Robert Bigelow has a colorful reputation, but when ABC News spoke with him a few years ago, he spoke about space exploration as dispassionately as one might about, say, extended-stay hotels. His company has plans for affordable habitats in the cosmos, perhaps to be rented out to countries or companies that cannot afford their own space programs.

"Think of us as if we were building an office building in space," he said. "Other countries or corporations would be our tenants."

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The Space Station Balloons -- Literally

NASA and Bigelow Aerospace plan to add a $17.8 million inflatable room to the International Space Station. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, will house astronauts, and is built to withstand heat, radiation, debris and other assaults.

NASA is partnering with a commercial space company in a bid to replace the cumbersome "metal cans" that now serve as astronauts' homes in space with inflatable bounce-house-like habitats that can be deployed on the cheap.

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A $17.8 million test project will send to the International Space Station an inflatable room that can be compressed into a 7-foot tube for delivery, officials said Wednesday in a news conference at North Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace.

If the module proves durable during two years at the space station, it could open the door to habitats on the moon and missions to Mars, NASA engineer Glen Miller said.

The agency chose Bigelow for the contract because it was the only company working on inflatable technology, said NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver.

Founder and President Robert Bigelow, who made his fortune in the hotel industry before getting into the space business in 1999, framed the gambit as an out-of-this-world real estate venture. He hopes to sell his spare tire habitats to scientific companies and wealthy adventurers looking for space hotels.

NASA is expected to install the 13-foot, blimp-like module in a space station port by 2015. Bigelow plans to begin selling stand-alone space homes the next year.

The new technology provides three times as much room as the existing aluminum models, and is also easier and less costly to build, Miller said.

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A bounce-house addition to the International Space Station?

An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts are preparing to join the crew of the International Space Station in March, but before they blast off, they'll have to face the thing all students dread: final exams.

NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, along with Alexander Misurkin and Pavel Vinogradov of Russia, are due to launch toward the space station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on March 28. They will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and join the station's Expedition 35 crew a few days later. The spaceflyers plan to spend about six months in space performing experiments and keeping the $100 billion space laboratory in tip-top shape.

But for now, the crew is spending its final weeks before launch cramming for a critical two-day exam that will take place in the Russian town of Star City. The test is one all space station crews must pass before they are cleared to launch.

"We're honing in on the end of a two-and-a-half-year process, which is culminating with some intense training here in Houston," Cassidy said in a NASA briefing today (Jan. 17). "We'll soon be in Star City where we'll have our final exams."

The three men will spend their first exam day inside a life-size simulator of the Russian segment of the space station, carrying out typical tasks and responding to simulated malfunctions that test their abilities to cope in a crisis. [Space Jet Lag: How Astronauts Cope (Video)]

On the second day, they'll tackle the same challenges inside a Soyuz simulator, carrying out mock launch, rendezvous and undocking sequences while clad in their Russian Sokol spacesuits. All this will be observed by a Russian state commission that includes veteran cosmonauts and officials.

"It sounds scary and it is intimidating the first time you do it," Cassidy told SPACE.com. "When you're sitting in a big gigantic room with a lot of experienced Soyuz commanders, and they're asking questions about why you put your hand in a certain place, it can be intimidating. But in my opinion it is a good process. It can really make you step up your game."

Crews must pass the exams before they are allowed to launch to space, but if at first they don't succeed, they do get a second chance to try again.

"Recently there have been some crews that have made a critical mistake," Cassidy said. "And what theyll do is make you redo that section and just fine-tune it."

Cassidy, Vinogradov and Misurkin will be taking their test March 6 and 7. The first two spaceflyers have some experience under their belt, as both have flown to space before: Cassidy flew on NASA'sSTS-127 mission of the space shuttle Endeavour in 2009, while Vinogradov is a veteran of two previous spaceflights, including a trip to Russia's space station Mir in 1997 and the International Space Station's Expedition 13 mission in 2004.

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Next Space Station Crew Faces Out-of-This-World Final Exams

Posted: 6:19 AM Updated: 6:19 AM

Hannah Dreier / The Associated Press

LAS VEGAS NASA is partnering with a commercial space company in a bid to replace the cumbersome "metal cans" that now serve as astronauts' homes in space with inflatable bounce-house-like habitats that can be deployed on the cheap.

click image to enlarge

This artist's rendering provided by Bigelow Aerospace shows an inflatable space station. NASA is partnering with this commercial space company to test an inflatable room that can be compressed into a 7-foot tube for delivery to the International Space Station. NASA is expected to install the module by 2015.

AP

A $17.8 million test project will send to the International Space Station an inflatable room that can be compressed into a 7-foot tube for delivery, officials said Wednesday in a news conference at North Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace.

If the module proves durable during two years at the space station, it could open the door to habitats on the moon and missions to Mars, NASA engineer Glen Miller said.

The agency chose Bigelow for the contract because it was the only company working on inflatable technology, said NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver.

Founder and President Robert Bigelow, who made his fortune in the hotel industry before getting into the space business in 1999, framed the gambit as an out-of-this-world real estate venture. He hopes to sell his spare tire habitats to scientific companies and wealthy adventurers looking for space hotels.

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Space station to get $18 million inflatable room

An innovative inflatable module developed by a Las Vegas hotel entrepreneur will be attached to the International Space Station in 2015 for a two-year test run to evaluate the technology's performance in the harsh environment of space, NASA and company officials announced Wednesday.

Bigelow Aerospace will receive $17.8 million from NASA to supply a Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, for the space station. The module will be launched, uninflated, aboard a commercial SpaceX Dragon cargo ship in 2015.

Once the Dragon is attached to the forward Harmony module, the station's robot arm will be used to pull the BEAM pallet from the cargo craft's unpressurized payload bay and attach it to the aft hatch of the port-side Tranquility module, 90 degrees up from the familiar multi-window Earth-facing cupola compartment. The space station crew then will activate the BEAM's pressurization system to inflate it.

Over the course of its two-year test run, instruments will measure its structural integrity and leak rate, along with temperature and radiation levels. The hatch leading into the module will remain mostly closed except for periodic visits by space station crew members for inspections and data collection. Following the test run, the module will be detached and jettisoned from the station.

"The International Space Station is a uniquely suited test bed to demonstrate innovative exploration technologies like the BEAM," William Gerstenmaier, NASA director of space operations said in a statement.

"As we venture deeper into space on the path to Mars, habitats that allow for long-duration stays in space will be a critical capability. Using the station's resources, we'll learn how humans can work effectively with this technology as we continue to advance our understanding in all aspects for long-duration spaceflight aboard the orbiting laboratory."

The BEAM test is being sponsored by NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems Program, which is focused on developing "prototype systems for future human exploration missions," according to the NASA statement. "The BEAM demonstration supports an AES objective to develop a deep space habitat for human missions beyond Earth orbit."

Bigelow Aerospace is owned by Robert Bigelow, an entrepreneur who made a fortune in real estate and the Budget Suites chain of hotels. Bigelow wants to build a commercial space station using larger BAE 330 inflatable modules, providing a relatively low-cost foothold in orbit for wealthy space tourists, university researchers and representatives from other nations who do not have ready access to space.

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Inflatable module to be attached to space station

This week, NASA announced that crews aboard the International Space Station will soon test an inflatable space module in orbit. The balloon-like module prototype will be manufactured by Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace and its scheduled for a 2015 launch aboard a SpaceX cargo run to the station.

The technology certainly has exciting implications imagine being able to launch a full habitat to the moon on a single rocket! but its not a novel idea. The Bigelow Aerospace design has its roots in the inflatable NASA concept TransHab developed (and ultimately canceled) for living on the space station, but designs for inflatable space habitats go even further back than that. NASAs Langley research center originally considered an inflatable space station as a jumping off point for lunar missions in 1959.

In the late 1950s, most proponents of space exploration was an Earth orbiting station as a necessary step on the way to deep space missions. Engineers at the Langley research center were no exception, formally entering the space station game in the spring of 1959. On April 1, NASA created a Research Steering Committee for Manned Space Flight led by Harry Goett. The Goett Committee as it became known included representatives from all NASA centers who met to discuss the agencys future on May 25. Representatives from Langley wasted no time, jumping into a presentation on the merits of a space station.

Called the Advanced Man in Space AMIS program, Langleys vision proposed a station with a type of shuttle vehicle that could take astronauts to distant points in the solar system. The station itself would help NASA study the psychological and physiological effects of extended spaceflight on astronauts and at the same time train crews for future demanding missions. It would also be a test bed for the new technology the space agency would no doubt have to develop to explore the Cosmos.

After a series of concept studies, Langley engineers settled on a self-deploying inflatable design for its space station. Noninflatable configurations had been systematically passed over: a cylindrical module attached to a boosters upper stage was dynamically unstable; a modular concept would need too many launches; and hub-and-spoke designs, basically big orbiting Ferris wheels, were expected to have disorientating and nauseating effects on a crew.

Langleys winning design was an inflatable torus astronauts would basically live inside a giant orbiting doughnut designed with the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation. Properly called the Erectable Torus Manned Space Laboratory, Langleys ideal torus was a flat design 24 feet in diameter that could be packed snugly inside a rocket for protected on its ride through the atmosphere to orbit. Once inflated, the inner habitable volume could provide astronauts with varying strengths of artificial gravity anywhere between O and 1 G, and ports on the outside of the torus could accept incoming and launch outgoing shuttles.

But there was one major problem with the inflatable aspect it was extremely vulnerable. Meteorites and micrometeorites posed the greatest and most immediate danger, but it wasnt the only worry. Some engineers worried that astronauts moving vigorously inside the torus could somehow rip through the structure and shoot themselves out into space. Goodyear built a research model out of a lightweight three-ply nylon cord held together by butyl elastome, a sticky, rubber-like material. This strengthened the torus, but it wasnt enough. It would still be vulnerable during a meteoroid shower.

Stability issues cropped up, too, again from the crews expected vigorous movements. Some engineers thought it was possible for astronauts to move around with enough force that the torus would start wobbling. A wobble, even a slight one, could make the station an unstable (and nauseating) place to be.

To address these strength and stability problems head on, Langley built a 10-foot-diameter elastically scaled model of the torus. The model was finished and ready for testing in the summer of 1961. But by then the torus was out of fashion, passed over in favor of a more rigid hexagonal design, also lightweight and foldable, and also from Langley.

But the bigger problem facing the space stations was NASAs new commitment to the moon. Benefits of spending the time in orbit to prepare men for the two-week trip from to the moon couldnt outweigh the need to get there first. Space stations, both inflatable models and their more rigid offshoots, were shelved.

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NASA's Original Inflatable Space Station