Private Company Launched a Space Station Prototype into Orbit

A privately owned and built prototype space station was successfully launched into orbit from a Russian missile base Yasny, by a Dnepr booster. The base is a former strategic launch area for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs - nuclear weapons), converted to a spacecraft launch site for private companies.

Bigelow Aerospace is an example of private company and this week they launched Genesis 2, an inflatable module fully equipped with cameras, personal items and even a Space Bingo game that it carried into orbit, where the module joined the near-twin Genesis 1, which launched in July 2006 and is still operational.

These modules are prototypes for commercial orbital complexes that the company wants to launch in the future, which will be offered for use by private firms and national space agencies. The latest launch is only the first step on the agenda of the company, according to Robert Bigelow, the company's founder and president.

Ground operators are anxiously waiting to hear from the spacecraft, in order to check its status and systems functions, after initial signals indicated an increase in the internal air pressure. But the batteries were powering up and the solar arrays were fully deployed, so everything seems to be going well on the space module.

"This is excellent news," said Bigelow Aerospace corporate counsel Mike Gold, when he heard that Genesis 2 was operating well in Earth orbit. "I'm a little overwhelmed right now. We still have steps to go through. We're early in the mission ... but this is all good news."

Genesis 2 is a 15-foot (4.4-meter) long module, with a width of 8 feet (2.54 meters) after the deployment of the eight solar arrays and carries 22 cameras that will be used to record scenes from the inside of the station, a module inflated with compressed air.