Inflatable Habitat for Space Station Planned by NASA, Bigelow

NASA, building the International Space Station over the last two decades, ran into ballooning costs. One solution it's now embraced is ballooning -- literally -- in orbit. NASA has signed a $17.8 million contract with Bigelow Aerospace, a firm based near Las Vegas, to build an inflatable habitat that could be added to the space station by 2015. The new compartment is called BEAM, short for Bigelow Expandable Activity Module. In announcing the deal, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver...Full Story