Bigelow Aerospace's Inflatable Space Station Idea (Photos)

NASA and Bigelow Aerospace President Robert Bigelow

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver talks with Bigelow Aerospace President Robert Bigelow prior to touring their facilities on Feb. 4, 2011 in Las Vegas. NASA has been discussing potential partnership opportunities with Bigelow for its inflatable habitat technologies.

Private Moon Bases Planned

Space entrepreneur Robert Bigelow (left) discusses layout plans of the company's lunar base with Eric Haakonstad, one of the Bigelow Aerospace lead engineers.

EXCLUSIVE: Bigelow Orbital Module Launched into Space

Tucked inside the nose fairing of a Dnepr booster, the Bigelow Aerospace Genesis-1 expandable module. Prototype hardware is a technology test for larger modules and a foothold on advanced habitable structures in space. Photo courtesy: Mike Gold

Bigelow's Aerospace's Genesis 1

Bigelow Aerospace's Genesis 2 spacecraft is a near twin of Genesis 1, seen here in this self-portrait after its July 2006 launch.

Bigelow Aerospace and Space Station

The International Space Station has modules a many – with discussions under way to attach a privately built Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM for short.

Instant Moonbases

Bigelow Aerospace engineers see an instant moon base by using a cluster of expandable modules that are piloted to the moon's surface.

Our Future and the Moon

Several private spaceflight companies are eyeing the moon as a destination for future space tourists like this one envisioned by entrepreneur Robert Bigelow of Bigelow Aerospace, who has already launched two space station module prototypes into orbit.

Bigelow Moon Habitat

Made with walls of reinforced fabric, expandable spacecraft like this model by the private space company Bigelow Aerospace—shown here in one-third scale—may one day house astronauts on the moon.

Bigelow Aerospace's Space Station Prototype

A picture on the end of one of the aft solar arrays looks toward the midsection of Genesis 2 as well as the forward solar panels.

Bigelow Aerospace's Moon Vision

A 1/30 scale model of a Bigelow Aerospace moon colony is prepared in the conservation department of the American Museum of Natural History in New York.