BEAM welcomes first astronaut Mission Reports

Now, the first humans have entered the first inflatable habitat in space.

U.S. astronaut Jeff Williams told the USA space agency’s mission control that the flexible habitat – known as the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) – looked “pristine” and was cold inside after entering for the first in a two-year series of tests, NASA said in a statement. That data will ultimately tell NASA and Bigelow Aerospace – the habitat’s manufacturer – how well the module, called BEAM, is holding up in the space environment. Astronaut Jeff Williams entered BEAM and checked sensors, installed air ducts and reported back to Earth that it was in pristine condition.

BEAM, which was built by Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace, launched toward the International Space Station (ISS) April 8 in a compressed configuration aboard SpaceX’s robotic Dragon cargo capsule.

NASA astronaut Jeff Williams floats into the International Space Station’s Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) on June 6, 2016. There was no trace of condensation, he noted. They collected air samples, took expansion measurements and made sure the air-pressurization tanks were empty, before exiting and closing the door behind them. At more than 13 feet long and about 10.5 feet in diameter, the module adds about 565 cubic feet of habitable volume to the station. After each brief entry, the hatch will be sealed.

The six-man station crew will deploy more sensors and other gear over the next few days. It is scheduled to remain attached to the station, a $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth, for two years. Over the next two years, NASA and Bigelow will study how well BEAM protects against temperature extremes, radiation and micrometeorite strikes.

BEAM, developed by Bigelow Aerospace, is part of NASA’s effort to develop new kinds of systems that will make it easier to launch and deploy secure habitats in Earth’s orbit and beyond that are low-cost to build and are nearly immediately ready for human habitation.

Expandable habitats are created to take up less room when being launched but provide greater volume for living and working in space once expanded.