Spaceflight Insider

News Archive / Tagged: BEAM

  • NASA to Bigelow: One BEAM to stay up?

    Curt GodwinOctober 6th, 2017

    More than halfway through its planned two-year demonstration mission to the International Space Station (ISS), Bigelow Aerospace's Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is performing so well that NASA is considering extending the habitat's stay at the orbiting outpost.

  • Cargo ships, expandables and spacewalks, oh my: ISS in 2016

    Derek RichardsonDecember 31st, 2016

    Between cargo ships servicing the outpost and spacewalks to maintain it, 2016 was arguably one of the busiest years for the International Space Station (ISS) since the end of the Space Shuttle era.

  • BEAM returning ‘extremely valuable’ data about expandable habitats

    Larry KlaesNovember 29th, 2016

    Having been attached to the ISS for six months, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, better known as BEAM, is already providing data that could inform the design of future human-rated expandable space habitats. The module was launched April 8 by SpaceX's CRS-8 Dragon spacecraft and was attached to the station's Tranquility module and expanded in May.

  • BEAM passes initial inspection; interior photos released

    Larry KlaesJune 17th, 2016

    The International Space Station’s (ISS) first expandable addition, known as the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), passed its initial inspection by two of the station’s residents. Additionally, NASA recently released high-resolution photos of the modules interior and exterior.

  • BEAM entered by International Space Station crew

    Derek RichardsonJune 6th, 2016

    About a week after expansion, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) was entered by NASA astronaut Jeff Williams and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka at 4:47 a.m. EDT (08:47 GMT) on June 6.

  • BEAM successfully expanded at International Space Station

    Derek RichardsonMay 28th, 2016

    The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) was successfully expanded today, May 28, on board the International Space Station, two days after an attempt to inflate the module brought an unexpected pressure increase with little-to-no increase in size.

  • After initial inflation, BEAM expansion put on hold

    Derek RichardsonMay 26th, 2016

    After preliminary inflation, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) was expected to expand to its full volume today. However, because the expansion procedure was taking much longer than planned, the ground teams postponed the remaining process in order to determine the cause of the problem.

  • Hab at it: NASA looking for space habitat concepts

    Jason RhianApril 27th, 2016

    NASA is looking for new habitat concepts. Of course, it pays if you're an aerospace firm with the resources to produce the habs needed for deep space destinations such as an asteroid or Mars.

  • BEAM attached to the International Space Station

    Derek RichardsonApril 16th, 2016

    A first-of-its-kind module—Bigelow Aerospace's Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM)—was attached to the International Space Station (ISS) this morning after the robotic Canadarm2 removed it from the trunk of SpaceX’s CRS-8 Dragon cargo ship currently berthed to the orbiting lab.

  • Triumph! SpaceX returns Dragon to service with CRS-8, nails landing on Drone Ship

    Jason RhianApril 8th, 2016

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The hits kept coming for SpaceX today as the firm returned their Dragon spacecraft to service and carried out the first completely successful ocean landing of the Falcon 9's first stage when it touched down on the "Of Course I Still Love You" ASDS positioned in the Atlantic.

  • SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft set to return to service on Friday

    Jason RhianApril 7th, 2016

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — CRS-8 is a flight more than ten months in the making. Ever since a SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 exploded some 139 seconds into the CRS-7 mission for NASA, the question has been, when will the Dragon fly again? That answer could be April 8, at 4:43 p.m. EDT (20:23 GMT).

  • The science of expansion: NASA highlights SpaceX CRS-8 experiments

    Jason RhianMarch 29th, 2016

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA held a briefing on March 28 that gave an overview of the experiments set to fly in SpaceX's CRS-8 Dragon spacecraft. In terms of CRS-8, one item, in particular, has captured the public's imagination – BEAM.

  • NASA leverages ISS as it gets go ahead for a deep space habitat

    Joe LatrellJanuary 23rd, 2016

    In the latest omnibus spending bill approved by Congress, NASA was awarded $55 million in order to help accelerate development of a deep space habitation module. SpaceFlight Insider spoke with agency representatives to determine what these initial efforts might entail.

  • BEAM module waits for transportion to the ISS

    Joe LatrellOctober 25th, 2015

    Bigelow Aerospace is still awaiting word on when their Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) will be transported to the International Space Station (ISS). Engineers at Bigelow packed up the unit for transportation to Florida from their Nevada headquarters in March of this year.

  • Bigelow to host media event for BEAM

    Collin SkocikMarch 6th, 2015

    On Thursday, March 12, reporters will have a chance to examine and photograph Bigelow Aerospace’s Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) before it is shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in preparation for launch. BEAM will be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) later in 2015 aboard CRS-8, the eighth contracted SpaceX resupply mission to the […]