Bigelow Aerospace’s July 17 photo of its inflatable habitat in orbit around the Earth with thermal and debris shielding.
The Las Vegas company, which hopes to put much larger inflatable habitats in orbit, hit the jackpot on its first attempt, July 12 — despite a skewed camera at the launch pad in Russia heightening the suspense in Las Vegas, and then a power failure at Bigelow’s contract tracking station in Virginia.
The contrator had to run extension cords to a restaurant across the street, while crews manually pointed their antenna, just in time to hear Genesis I call home.
Things seem to have been smooth ever since, including word that Genesis "is toting a NASA payload – a shoebox-sized experiment dubbed ‘GeneBox’– a miniature laboratory that includes sensors and optical systems that can detect proteins and specific genetic activity, according to LiveScience.com. Visit the Bigelow site for video clips of the habitat’s interior.
Now, if they can just convince people to live in a balloon, they might really have something.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 