We visited the world’s first inflatable space station. Here’s what it was like.

An inflatable space station? It’s not as crazy as it sounds. Colorado-based Sierra Space plans to replace the International Space Station (ISS) once it retires at the end of this decade with a series of inflatable living spaces where scientists, artists and others can live and work for weeks at a time.

For its first act, Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser, the world’s first winged commercial spaceplane, is targeting a September launch to carry cargo to the ISS as part of the company’s $3 billion contract with NASA.

Sierra’s second act will be an inflatable space habitat called LIFE (Large Integrated Flexible Environment). The first habitat is 27 feet in diameter and is comparable to a three-story building.

Robb Report‘s recent visit to the aerospace company’s headquarters and research facility in Louisville, Colorado, included an exclusive tour of its inflatable space habitat. The full-scale prototype is designed to be launched into space in a conventional rocket and then – while in orbit – expand into spherical living spaces.

“If you walk through it now it might feel claustrophobic, but if you’re floating it’s very spacious,” said Angie Wise, Sierra’s chief safety officer. Above her hangs an upside-down hammock tied to the ceiling – “The astronauts must strap in or they’ll float around” – and next to it a copy of a science fiction thriller Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (who also wrote the Martian)nestled in its own spot, like a makeshift bedside table.

This is where the next generation of astronauts and scientists will conduct research in microgravity, the ideal environment for developing technology ranging from 3D-printed human organs to battery chemistry that could increase the range of today’s electric vehicles tenfold, according to Sierra CEO Tom. Shame.

“I think we can disrupt any industrial company,” Vice says, standing in the middle of a glass-walled observation room overlooking Sierra Space’s Mission Control Center. Vice and a dozen company flight controllers plan to oversee Dream Chaser’s first spaceflight, on the back of a United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket at Florida’s Cape Canaveral spaceport.

Initially, Dream Chaser will transport cargo between Earth and the ISS. But the company says the spaceplane will eventually carry people like astronauts, scientists and researchers into low Earth orbit — about 250 miles from Earth, where the ISS now lives — and house them aboard its LIFE habitat, a floating platform designed to enable space travel. people can live and work comfortably for weeks in low Earth orbit and beyond.

Wise leads us to the house-sized, doughnut-shaped prototype that looms over the factory floor of Sierra Space’s headquarters. The outer shell of the structure resembles something between a yurt and a hot air balloon and is made with a very strong matrix of ‘soft’ materials that become stiff under pressure.

Fully inflated, it measures one-third the volume of the ISS, but Sierra Space is developing even larger LIFE modules. For example, its LIFE 5000 expands to five thousand cubic meters (about 177,000 cubic feet) in Earth orbit – larger than the entire space station– in just one launch. The company is also working with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to launch the first-ever commercial space station, a “mixed business park” called Orbital Reef, which it hopes to open by 2030. The plan is to launch future versions of the LIFE space station. habitat to house a hotel, restaurant and laboratories where researchers can experiment with microgravity.

This factory floor prototype seats four to six people, with plenty of room for research labs and exercise equipment. A vegetable garden is located on the “top” floor to provide crew members with a steady supply of fresh produce when they need a break from freeze-dried meals. “A lot of work goes into getting fresh food into the space,” Wise says. “If we ultimately want to go to Mars, we have to learn how to grow food.”

The thick matrix of materials surrounding the dome is designed to withstand the impact of micro-meteoroids and orbital debris, and to protect astronauts from internal pressure and space radiation. The dominant material is Vectran, a chemically woven fiber that is five times stronger than steel when inflated in orbit and used in NASA’s spacesuits. The soft material can deflect the impact of meteors and other space debris better than titanium or Kevlar, like a “bulletproof space vest,” Wise says.

Using a woven pattern to connect the nine layers of textile, the matrix is ​​robust enough to withstand a meteor shower, but amply versatile for astronauts on board to repair holes in the surface by inserting a piece of material into Can be 3D printed.

To assess its durability, the prototype underwent several “burst tests” at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where it was inflated to see how much internal pressure it could withstand before exploding. In the most recent test, a full-scale prototype exceeded NASA’s recommended safety levels, sustaining up to five times ambient pressure.

This latest burst test included a metal window substructure (or blind plate) as a window stand, an architectural feature that is especially crucial for longer trips. The plate also serves to create a rigid point in a soft structure used for mounting robotic arms, antennas and other equipment. Wise says, “Astronauts like windows, because what’s the point of being up there if you can’t see out?”

Across the factory floor from the LIFE habitat prototype, engineers are at work building a second Dream Chaser spaceplane, called Reverence. Sierra won’t reveal many details, but says it is being developed for missions to the ISS, among other possible applications.

The first Dream Chaser spaceplane, named Tenacity, has been delivered to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it awaits its inaugural launch. The sleek, white and somewhat bird-like silhouette is 9 meters long and has wings that can be stowed for launch, allowing the spaceplane to fit into a conventional rocket fairing. Tenacity’s compact body and 25-foot wingspan deployable into orbit enable a major breakthrough: the ability to land horizontally on any commercial runway that can accommodate a Boeing 747 or Airbus A380 .

When equipped with Sierra Space’s 15-foot Shooting Star module, the Dream Chaser can carry up to 12,000 pounds of food, water and supplies to the ISS. The module is designed to burn upon reentry, creating the possibility of removing up to 8,500 pounds of waste from the space station after each mission.

Tenacity’s maiden flight marks a major milestone in fulfilling Sierra Space’s goal of becoming the largest real estate developer in space, providing the transportation and destination as well as the commercial economy that will power the Orbital Age, bringing people into permanent residence can live and work in the space. Delivering the ISS is just the first step in Sierra’s aspirations to take Dream Chaser beyond low Earth orbit, to the moon and eventually into deep space.

The company plans to develop a crewed version of Dream Chaser that can deliver both astronauts and cargo to the ISS.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Sierra Space has signed agreements to begin developing a global network of landing sites, including the Space Shuttle runway at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Huntsville Airport in Alabama and Spaceport America in New Mexico, as well as facilities in Oita . , Japan and Cornwall, England. The long-term goal is to land on commercial runways at airports around the world, allowing Dream Chaser to deliver supplies or people to different places on Earth faster than conventional aircraft.

“We want to work with companies that want to find answers to the world’s toughest problems,” says Vice. “That includes biotech companies thinking about the next generation of drugs for oncology or longevity, and semiconductor companies trying to find the next chip that reduces energy consumption.”