Bigelow Aerospace's Inflatable Space Station Idea (Photos)

Bigelow Aerospace's Moon Bases

Bigelow Aerospace

Representatives with Bigelow Aerospace plan to build bases on the moon.

Bigelow Aerospace's Moon Bases

Bigelow Aerospace

Representatives with Bigelow Aerospace plan to build bases on the moon.

Bigelow Aerospace's Moon Bases

Bigelow Aerospace

Representatives with Bigelow Aerospace plan to build bases on the moon.

Bigelow Aerospace BA 330 at Mars

Bigelow Aerospace

An artist's illustration of a Bigelow Aerospace BA 330 inflatable module with Mars in the background. The BA 330 module is expected to be designed to form part of a multi-module space station, or serve as an independent orbiting outpost.

Inside BA 330 Commercial Space Habitat

Space.com/Robert Z. Pearlman

A view from inside Bigelow Aerospace’s full-scale model of a BA 330 commercial space habitat. The module has a 22-foot-wide interior (6.7 meters) when fully expanded in low-Earth orbit, allowing it to support a crew of six.

Full-Scale Model of the BA 330 Inflatable Space Habitat

Space.com/Robert Z. Pearlman

Full-scale model of the BA 330 inflatable space habitat, as seen at Bigelow Aerospace’s Las Vegas facilities, Wednesday, April 30, 2014.

Inflation Factor: Bigelow Readies Test Module

Bigelow Aerospace

Room to grow! Bigelow Aerospace is busy plotting out a series of inflatable structures to be positioned in space.

Robert Bigelow Portrait

NASA/Bill Ingalls

Bigelow Aerospace President Robert Bigelow talks during a press conference shortly after he and NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver toured the Bigelow Aerospace facilities on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011, in Las Vegas.

Bigelow Alpha Station

Bigelow Aerospace

Artist’s view of the Bigelow Alpha Station comprised of two BA 330 expandable habitats built by private spaceflight company Bigelow Aerospace.

Garver Tours Bigelow Aerospace

NASA/Bill Ingalls

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver is given a tour of the Bigelow Aerospace facilities by the company’s President Robert Bigelow back in Feb. 2011, in Las Vegas. NASA has been discussing potential partnership opportunities with Bigelow for its inflatable habitat technologies as part of NASA's goal to develop innovative technologies to ensure that the U.S. remains competitive in future space endeavors.

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Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.