The privately-built inflatable module Genesis 1 glides silently through space awaiting a successor to be launched later this year.

Built by the Las Vegas, Nevada-based firm Bigelow Aerospace, Genesis I is a test vehicle to serve as a demonstration for future orbital complexes for human habitation [image]. The module launched in July 2006 atop a Dnepr rocket, a converted intercontinental ballistic missile [image].

This view, released this week by Bigelow Aerospace, was taken on Jan. 16 by a camera mounted to the exterior of Genesis 1. The pressurized module’s solar arrays are visible at the far end of the spacecraft, which is backlit by a shimmering blue Earth.

Led by entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, Bigelow Aerospace is gearing up to launch Genesis 2, a second demonstration vehicle. That launch, also aboard a Dnepr booster, is slated to liftoff around April 1.

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-- Tariq Malik

Credit: Bigelow Aerospace.