Largest inflatable space habitat

On 28 May 2016, astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) completed the process of inflating and fully pressuring a new experimental module called the BEAM (Bigelow Expandable Activity Module). With an internal volume of 16 cubic metres (565 cubic feet), the BEAM is the largest inflatable space habitat (beating Bigelow Aerospace's earlier unmanned experimental habitats, Genesis I and II). NASA expects astronauts to begin using the module for tests in June 2016. The BEAM will remain attached to the ISS – with its hatch sealed most of the time – until 2018 to prove the viability of the inflatable space habitat concept.

The BEAM is a miniaturized version of the Bigelow Aerospace B330, a massive 330-cubic-metre expandable space habitat designed for use in low Earth orbit. The design of the B330 is itself a development of the TransHab, a project that NASA was forced to abandon owing to a lack of funding in the late 1990s.

Bigelow Aerospace has long wanted to use two or three of these modules to build a large commercial space station, but have not been able to do so because of delays in the production of the heavy-lift rockets (the NASA SLS and the SpaceX Falcon Heavy) needed to lift it into orbit.