Watch NASA attach the first inflatable habitat on the ISS

On April 16th, the ISS will become just a wee bit bigger after astronauts install the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module. BEAM hitched a ride aboard SpaceX’s Dragon capsule during its latest (and historic) resupply mission. Astronauts will use the robotic Canadarm2 to unload it from the capsule and move it to position, before unfolding and expanding it to add a 10-x-13-foot area to the station. If all goes well, BEAM will look like a small protrusion from outside the ISS, as you can see at the top center of the image above. The space agency will televise the installation live on NASA TV, so you can watch it go down… if you can wake up at 5:30AM (Eastern time) on a Saturday.

http://www.engadget.com/2016/04/13/watch-nasa-inflatable-beam-iss/

 

Russia’s Federation spacecraft 3.5 times cheaper than NASA’s SpaceX Dragon

Russia intends to spend three and a half times less than NASA on a new-generation manned spacecraft designed to replace the Soyuz family. The craft will rival the Dragon 2 being developed by America’s SpaceX corporation.

 

According to the new budget being requested by Roscosmos from the Russian government, the construction of the “Federation” reusable piloted spacecraft will cost 58 billion rubles (US$734 million) over the next six years.

The sum requested is 3.5 times less than what NASA is spending to develop its SpaceX Dragon 2 delivery vehicle, which was allocated $2.6 billion in 2014. In fact, the new research and development budget runs 8 billion rubles ($101 million) less than was planned last year.

https://www.rt.com/news/329949-federation-spacecraft-cheaper-dragon/

Russia's Federation spacecraft 3.5 times cheaper than NASA’s SpaceX Dragon https://t.co/bMILNtyMZe pic.twitter.com/0G7UI0gHXY

— RT (@RT_com) January 24, 2016