Bigelow Aerospace, A new Genesis in space Options

[ljk4-1]

To quote:

On June 16, he'll use a Russian Dnepr rocket to launch a 1/3-scale Genesis model of his planned commercial orbital space station. That much has been public for a while. What I didn't learn until just now is what will be on that module.

Freefloating inside will be 1,000 photocards and small personal objects contributed by Bigelow employees. If all goes well, those items will be continuously blown throughout the pressurized module in a kind of space collage. Six onboard cameras will stream video to Bigelow's new website, which will launch tomorrow or Friday. Seven external cameras will provide views of the Earth from space and the outside of the module.

If that doesn't get even the most disinterested member of the public at least intrigued about the possibilities of space travel, I don't know what will.

But it gets better. Subject to a successful launch of the first module, Bigelow will launch a second Genesis module in September, and that one will contain photos and other small items contributed by anyone who cares to pony up $295.

Full article here:

http://michaelbelfiore.com/blog/2006/05/bi...s-to-orbit.html

[edstrick]

There are fundamentally different types of breakthroughs: scientific, engineering, and economic. The NASA and ESA of today are capable of the first, fumble the second increasingly badly with time (Aerospace plane, X-33, etc.. Hermes...), and are transcendentally incapable of the third.

We can have a space "program" with more of the same only better, but we can also have a "breakout" program that will give true access to space, and the ability to make a space-based industrial civilization a real possiblity. Elon Mus, Bigelow, Paul Allen, Jef Bezos and the space activists like Rick Tumlinson, Peter Diamandis, and the Ansaris the names our descendents will learn the way they learn of Heinrik Hudson, Vasco da Gama, Francis Drake and James Cook.