NASA Inflates New Space
Station Room
The operation took much longer than
expected, stretching over three days in all.
Williams and his five crew mates will
have to wait a week before venturing inside. NASA wants
to make certain the chamber is airtight before opening the door.
It was NASA's second shot at
inflating the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, named for the
aerospace company that created it as a precursor to moon and Mars habitats, and
orbiting tourist hotels.
BEAM barely expanded during
Thursday's inflation attempt. Experts believe the soft-sided compartment was
packed up tight for so long before last month's launch that the fabric layers
had trouble unfolding.
Pressure inside the chamber was
relieved Friday to ease the friction among the multiple layers. That apparently
did the trick. The cubicle swelled an additional six feet in length Saturday,
looking more and more like a giant beach ball with every pulse of air.
In all, Williams opened the valve 25
times Saturday for a total of two minutes' worth of air flowing from the space
station into the chamber.
Popping noises could be heard as pressure
built up inside BEAM, it sounded like popcorn in a frying pan. Officials said
it was the sound of internal straps releasing as the pod swelled in both length
and girth.
NASA insisted on taking it slow to
avoid a sudden pressurization of BEAM that could stress the connecting parts of
the space station.
Bigelow Aerospace of North Las Vegas
provided this first inflatable room ever built for astronauts. NASA paid $17.8
million for the technology demo, which could lead to an even bigger inflatable
room at the space station.
Founder Robert Bigelow, a longtime
hotel entrepreneur, already is working on a pair of private inflatable space
stations that could fly in a few years. He sees inflatables as the
spaceflight's future.
Because expandable spacecraft can be
compressed for launch, the rockets can carry more cargo,
yet space travelers can still enjoy lots of room. The standard aluminum rooms
that make up the space station, essentially fancy cans, can never be larger than what
fits into a rocket.
BEAM, empty except for sensors, will
remain attached to the orbiting lab for two years as engineers measure
temperature, radiation levels and resistance to space debris impacts. It
will be off limits most of the time to astronauts, given its experimental
status.
SpaceX delivered BEAM early last
month, and it was installed on the outside of the 400 kilometer high outpost.
Launch delays kept it grounded an extra half-year.
