Abstract
First there was Genesis I, then Genesis II, and, if all goes well, there will be a Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) attached to the International Space Station (ISS) by 2015. Each mission marks an incremental step in the evolution of Bigelow Aerospace’s plan to launch a commercial station comprising linked Bigelow BA-330 modules, perhaps as early as 2016. Will it happen? Probably. After all, there are plenty of launch vehicles capable of lofting BA-330s into low Earth orbit (LEO). But launching clients? Well, that’s another matter. Bigelow is not in the business of building launch vehicles, which is why the company must rely on companies which are part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Programs (CCPs), such as Boeing and SpaceX. The CCP (see Appendix I) was established to encourage commercial operators to develop man-rated vehicles capable of ferrying astronauts to LEO. Without at least one of these companies succeeding, any chance of a Bigelow Space Station being flown any time soon are slim to none because there won’t be any way to ferry clients to the station. So, before looking ahead to the possibility of Bigelow’s space station becoming operational, it’s worth taking time to understand the CCP and the vehicles involved.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Incidentally, NASA astronauts will fly as spaceflight participants on board commercial spacecraft. That’s the ruling of the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation, which decided NASA astronauts didn’t meet the definition of “crew” because that definition requires them to be employees of the licensee or subcontractor licensee. NASA astronauts are neither, so they will be flying as spaceflight participants—at least under the current regulations.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Seedhouse, E. (2015). The Space Taxi Race. In: Bigelow Aerospace. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05197-0_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05197-0_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-05196-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-05197-0
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)