Bigelow's Second Inflatable Space Station Prototype Launched Into Orbit

Genesis 2, an inflatable module laden with cameras, personal items and a Space Bingo game, rocketed spaceward atop a Dnepr booster from a silo at Yasny Launch Base, an active Russian strategic missile base in the country's Orenburg region. Liftoff occurred at 11:02 a.m. EDT (1502 GMT) though it was near evening at the Russian launch site.

Genesis 2 is a near-twin of Bigelow Aerospace's Genesis 1 module, which launched in July 2006 and remains operational today, but carries a series of enhancements and additional cargo, the Las Vegas, Nevada-based spaceflight firm has said. Both spacecraft are prototypes for future commercial orbital complexes that Bigelow Aerospace, and its founder and president Robert Bigelow, hope to offer for use by private firms and national space agencies.

Genesis 2 is the first Bigelow Aerospace module to carry a clutch of personal items under the firm's "Fly Your Stuff" campaign, which allowed paying customers to load photographs and other possessions to ride into orbit and be captured by onboard cameras.
Also tucked aboard Genesis 2 are a Space Bingo game and Biobox filled with ant farms, scorpions and Madagascar hissing cockroaches.


SOURCE:
Space.com

This is very cool as it is the predecessor to the orbital Hilton's of tomorrow.

Genesis II, which is a slightly modified and upgraded version of the first Genesis module
is one of four prototypes to be launched by Bigelow Aerospace as part of this experimental
process.

Hopefully in the next two decades we will see the first space hotels come into being as
the Private Space sector blasts into orbit.


Comments, Opinions?

great post, just so im clear whya space bingo game??? are there people aboard this capsule?

Originally posted by sostyles
great post, just so im clear why a space bingo game??? are there people aboard this capsule?

I think the bingo game is for entertainment purposes really, sort of a way to get people
to pay attention.

There are no people on this one, though if all things go according to plan, the next module,
Sundancer and the subsequent BA 330 after that will be manned, the latter actually
being the first segment of the commercial space station.

I'm very excited, this seems to be the future of space travel!!

UPDATE: the station has downlinked with Earth.

news.yahoo.com...

yup, this and the sub orbital flights becoming available will tie up into a nice little moneymaker! Good times to live in the next 20 - 30 years will be very interesting for commercial spaceflight!

Also tucked aboard Genesis 2 are a Space Bingo game and Biobox filled with ant farms, scorpions and Madagascar hissing cockroaches.

just great, now we can dull the minds and ruin the ecosystem of the whole solar system. as humans we're just not very bright in the whole scheme of things.

Originally posted by bokinsmowl
just great, now we can dull the minds and ruin the ecosystem of the whole solar system. as humans we're just not very bright in the whole scheme of things.

Earth is the only place with an ecosystem, so one could'nt be, even if we wanted to.

And I'm excluding possible micro niche systems of bacteria in various places,
since those are'nt really ecosystems.

i was speaking in the grand scheme of things. anyway... no offense, but whos to say earth has the only ecosystem, that seems pretty closed minded considering the vastness of space. sorry for the one liner, but maybe that wasn't clear.

I agree that there are other ecosystems in the galaxy and the Universe at large,
but I'm just saying that in our solar system, Earth is the only planet that has one,
in the sense that it's more than a few pockets of microbes.

Originally posted by iori_komei
I agree that there are other ecosystems in the galaxy and the Universe at large,
but I'm just saying that in our solar system, Earth is the only planet that has one,
in the sense that it's more than a few pockets of microbes.

How can you even say that? Have you been to Mars? Venus? Any of the larger moons orbiting Saturn/Jupiter?

Until we have landed on said planets with humans and fully documented their habit, I will not believe 100% of what NASA or any other government agency tells me.

NASA is covering up so many things regarding just the moon and Mars. What makes you so certain they are not hiding life outside of our planet?

P.S. We're not alone.

P.P.S. Thanks for the link .

[edit on 24-7-2007 by biggie smalls]

You could'nt land on Jupiter, since it's essentially a big ball of gas with a molten/liquid
metal or hydrogen core.

The Moon is a barren wasteland with temperature extremes on each side and exposed to
massive amounts of radiation, not to mention that while it may/does have frozen ice,
they are frozen solid in -333 Fº craters.

Jupiter, as well as the other gas giants and Venus may have microbial life in part of
their cloud layers, but nothing beyond that.

The only place that might have anything like an ecosystem would be Europa,
but even then it would not be anywhere near as complex as that of Earths.



EDIT:
Jupiter's a big ball of gas, not a gig. [Spelling]

[edit on 7/24/2007 by iori_komei]

Originally posted by iori_komei
You could'nt land on Jupiter, since it's essentially a gig ball of gas with a molten/liquid
metal or hydrogen core.

Re-read my post, I said Jupiter and Saturn's moons.

The Moon is a barren wasteland with temperature extremes on each side and exposed to massive amounts of radiation, not to mention that while it may/does have frozen ice,
they are frozen solid in -333 Fº craters.

While I don't agree with all John Lear says, he has some extraordinary pictures of our Moon, Venus, and Mars...Pointing to intelligence outside of our planet. Whether they are habitable without 'bases' or not is of course debatable. But I believe Mars/Moon could have life on them.

We won't know 'reality' until there are other countries traveling the solar system who don't have a vested interest in what is 'known.'

You can figure out that the Moon is a virtual wasteland without ever sending
a spacecraft there, I mean all you need is a telescope, measuring equipment
and some training in astrophysics and the readings of your equipments measurements.


As for Lear, well I don't believe a word he says, in fact I'd be more willing to except the
idea that Atlanteans ran around naked shooting each other with fruit juice in ancient
antarctica than believe anything he says.