FUTURE space tourists may be asked to inflate their hotel on arrival. Well, perhaps – hopefully their rooms should be fully inflated before they get there.
The US government has given Bigelow Aerospace of Las Vegas the green light to launch its inflatable space modules into orbit. A prototype called Genesis, about one-third the size of the envisaged final module, is due for lift-off on an unspecified rocket in November 2005.
The US Federal Aviation Administration studied the construction, material, shielding and inflation mechanism of the module during the eight months it took to approve the launch. “Obtaining the approval for…
