U.S. entrepreneur's private space station test module is launched

LOS ANGELES: A new unmanned test module for a proposed private space station was launched into orbit Thursday aboard a Russian rocket, the U.S. company developing the inflatable technology said.

The Dnepr rocket carrying the Genesis II module lifted off from the ISC Kosmotras Yasny Cosmodrome in Russia's Orenburg region, according to Bigelow Aerospace.

Contact with the module was established later in the day, and data indicated good voltage in the power system and "decent" air pressure in the vehicle, although that was not official confirmation of solar panel deployment and expansion of the outer shell, said spokesman Chris Reed.

"But all the data indicates that's the case," he added.

The Bigelow Aerospace design uses flexible material that is wrapped around a core for launch and then inflated in orbit. Several modules could be linked to form a space station.

The 15-foot (4.5-meter) long module was designed to expand to a diameter of 8 feet (2.4 meters).

The module separated from the rocket 14 minutes after liftoff, but confirmation was delayed by a brief communications problem in Russia, which caused jittery nerves, the company said.

"When it came in four minutes later, it was a big relief," Bigelow Aerospace program manager Eric Haakonstad said in a company statement.

Genesis II is the second module to be launched to test technology that could be used in future manned commercial space stations.

Last summer, Bigelow launched Genesis I, which successfully expanded and sent back pictures of itself in space.

Bigelow has committed $500 million (€371.3 million) toward building a commercial space station by 2015.

Robert T. Bigelow, owner of the Budget Suites of America hotel chain and founder of Bigelow Aerospace, was at the launch site. Company employees monitored the launch at his mission control facility in North Las Vegas.