Innovation: Inflatable expansion modules for the International Space Station

Next Steps

Astronauts will inflate BEAM in late May for a two-year test. Bigelow plans to launch a pair of commercial modules in 2020. Given the finite storage in a rocket, “you get a lot more living space with an inflatable,” says Jeffrey Hoffman, a former NASA astronaut and professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. And in a collision with space debris, he says, “an inflatable could actually be more survivable.”