Bigelow might launch commercial space station before 2010

Bigelow Aerospace might launch its commercial space station before 2010, according to a company statement.

London, Aug 15 : Bigelow Aerospace might launch its commercial space station before 2010, according to a company statement.

The Las Vegas, Nevada based Bigelow Aerospace has successfully placed two inflatable spacecraft, called Genesis I and Genesis II, in Earth orbit and eventually wants to launch habitable space stations for space tourists.

Initially, the company had planned to orbit a third spacecraft called Galaxy in 2008 before lofting its Sundancer space station, able to support a crew of three, into orbit in 2010.

But a statement by company founder Robert Bigelow posted on the company's website on Tuesday said that rising launch costs have pushed the company to forgo the launch of Galaxy and bring forward Sundancer's planned launch.

Though Bigelow has not given a new date for launch, it is expected that private space habitats "could be arriving much earlier than any of us had previously anticipated".

However, it is still unclear how any customers would travel to the Sundancer station, New Scientist magazine said in a report.

Bigelow further said in the statement that Galaxy, or at least parts of it, will still be built and tested, but on the ground rather than in space.

Bigelow's Genesis I and II spacecraft had launched aboard Russian Dnepr rockets. But launching Galaxy would have cost two to three times as much as those previous launches due to inflation and a falling US dollar, the statement said.

ANI