Sausages In Space!

A converted Cold War era Russian ballistic missile launched an experimental inflatable spacecraft into space today. The craft is a test of a number of technologies that it's backers hope will one day be a commercial space station.

The Genesis I satellite flew aboard a converted Cold War ballistic missile from Russia's southern Ural Mountains at 6:53 p.m. Moscow time. It was boosted about 320 miles above Earth minutes after launch, according to the Russian Strategic Missile Forces.

The launch was a first for the startup Bigelow Aerospace, founded by Bigelow, who owns the Budget Suites of America hotel chain. Bigelow is among several entrepreneurs attempting to break into the fledgling manned commercial spaceflight business.

Mission controllers began communicating with Genesis about seven hours after liftoff. Early indications showed that the spacecraft was behaving as planned, according to a statement by the company.

The spacecraft's internal battery was at full charge, meaning that it had deployed its solar panels, the statement said.

Despite the successful launch, significant hurdles remain.

Mission controllers will continue to download information from the spacecraft over the next several hours to determine its health. Once that's confirmed, it will begin the tricky job of ballooning itself to twice its pre-launch width in a process that could last several hours.

Bigelow hopes to use inflation technology to build an expandable orbital outpost made up of several Genesis-like modules strung together like sausage links that could serve as a space hotel, science lab or even a sports arena.

"We're ecstatic. We're just elated," Bigelow said in a telephone interview from Las Vegas. "We have a sense of being on a great adventure."

Bigelow has committed $500 million toward building a commercial space station by 2015. So far, $75 million has been spent on the project.

Sports in space! Nah - never work. A good head butt could get you ejected all right. Right into space!

Other Links to this Post

1. Blue Crab Boulevard » Blog Archive » Watermelons In Space! — Friday, 14 July , 2006 @ 12:08 pm

2. Blue Crab Boulevard » Blog Archive » A Destination Waiting For A Means To Get There — Saturday, 23 September , 2006 @ 9:17 am