BEAM, the Bigelow Expandable Activiey Module – the first inflatable habitat, has been opened up for the first time at around 4:47 in the morning.
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Activities aboard the International Space Station during the first week in June included continued operations with the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) – which was fully expanded on May 28.
“Williams told flight controllers at Mission Control, Houston that BEAM looked “pristine” and said it was cold inside, but that there was no evidence of any condensation on its inner surfaces”, it said. Now, the first humans have entered the first inflatable habitat in space. They also may provide astronauts with better radiation protection.
An artist’s rendition of the expanded BEAM module which will endure two years’ worth of exposure and monitoring in the hostile environment of space. The expandable habitat technology was originally conceived by NASA in the 1990’s as part of the TransHab project, but due to delays and budgetary issues, the program was canceled. Williams will take the air sample from the module and install instruments for data gathering purposes.
Designed by Nasa and Bigelow Aerospace, Beam launched on the eighth SpaceX Commercial Resupply Service mission, on 8 April. Once completing the BEAM checks, Williams and Skripochka went out and closed the hatch for the day. Next time Jeff Williams entered to BEAM again to download data from BEAM onboard sensors for further analysis of inflating process, he checked oxygen tanks and cleaned the hatch.
The room – called the Bigelow Activity Activity Module, or BEAM – arrived at the International Space Station in April, packed in the trunk of a capsule loaded with supplies.
However, each year, astronauts on board the ISS will enter the module three to four times, collecting data on temperature, pressure and radiation, as well as assessing the structural conditions.
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Astronauts will return to BEAM on Tuesday and Wednesday to install temperature and radiation sensors as well as instruments to collect data from any micro-meteoroid or orbital debris impacts. It will remain at the orbiting lab for the duration of the two-year test and then be set adrift to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.
