Astronauts enter world's first inflatable space habitat [View all]

[WhiteTara]

Source: ap

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Space station astronauts opened the world's first inflatable space habitat Monday and floated inside.

NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams swung open the door to the newly expanded chamber and was the first to enter. He said it was pristine but cold inside.

The room — called the Bigelow Activity Activity Module, or BEAM — arrived at the International Space Station in April, packed in the trunk of a capsule loaded with supplies. It was inflated just over a week ago.

Mission Control said the temperature registered 44 degrees, as anticipated, at one end of the 13-foot-long, 10 ½ -foot-wide chamber. There was no trace of condensation, Williams noted.

For now, BEAM is empty and dark; Williams and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka wore head lamps to illuminate the crinkled, silver walls. They collected air samples, took expansion measurements and made sure the air-pressurization tanks were empty, before exiting and closing the door behind them.

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