We visited the world’s first inflatable space station. This is what it looked 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 is decommissioned at the end of the decade with a series of inflatable housing units that will allow scientists, artists and other people to live and work for weeks.

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 measures 27 feet in diameter and is the equivalent of a three-story building.

Flight reportThe recent tour of the aerospace company’s headquarters and research center in Louisville, Colorado, included an exclusive tour of its inflatable space habitat. The full-scale prototype is designed to be launched into space inside a conventional rocket and then expand, in orbit, to become a globular habitation space.

“Walking around there now can feel claustrophobic, but when you’re floating, it’s very spacious,” says Angie Wise, Sierra Space’s security manager. Above her is an upside-down hammock attached to the ceiling – “Astronauts have to strap themselves in or they’ll float” – and next to it, a copy of the sci-fi thriller. Hail Mary Project by Andy Weir (who also wrote The Martian)nestled on its own perch like a makeshift nightstand.

It’s where the next generation of astronauts and scientists will conduct research in microgravity, the ideal climate for developing technologies ranging from 3D-printed human organs to battery chemicals that can increase the range of electric vehicles today, according to the CEO of Sierra Space. Tom Vice.

“I think we will have the ability to disrupt any industrial enterprise,” Vice says, standing in the center of a glass-walled observation room overlooking Sierra Space’s mission control center. Vice and a dozen flight controllers from the company plan to oversee Dream Chaser’s first space flight, aboard a United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket at the Cape Canaveral spaceport in Florida.

Initially, Dream Chaser will transport cargo between Earth and the ISS. But the company says the spaceplane will eventually carry people such as astronauts, scientists and researchers to low Earth orbit – about 250 miles from Earth, where the ISS now resides – and welcome them on board of its LIFE habitat, a floating platform designed to allow humans to live and work comfortably for weeks in low Earth orbit and beyond.

Wise takes us inside the house-sized, donut-hole-shaped prototype that towers over the Sierra Space headquarters factory. Resembling something between a yurt and a hot air balloon, the structure’s outer shell is made of a high-strength matrix of “softgoods” materials that become rigid under pressure.

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

This factory-installed prototype can accommodate four to six people, with plenty of space for research labs and exercise equipment. The “top” floor will host a vegetable garden to provide crew members with a steady supply of fresh produce when they want to take a break from freeze-dried meals. “A lot of work goes into getting fresh food into space,” Wise says. “If we 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, as well as to protect astronauts from internal pressure and space radiation. Its dominant material is Vectran, a chemically woven fiber that is five times stronger than steel when inflated in orbit and used in NASA 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 its nine layers of textiles, the matrix is ​​sturdy enough to withstand a meteor shower but widely versatile so that the astronauts on board can repair holes in the surface by 3D printing a piece of material.

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 its most recent test, a full-scale prototype exceeded NASA’s recommended safety levels, lasting up to five times greater than ambient pressure.

This latest burst test included a metal window substructure (or blanking plate) as a replacement for a window, an architectural feature particularly crucial for long journeys. The plate is also used to create a rigid point in a flexible structure used to mount robotic arms, antennas and other equipment. Wise says, “Astronauts love windows, because what’s the point of being up there if you can’t see out?” »

On the other side of the factory, around the LIFE habitat prototype, engineers are working on building a second Dream Chaser space plane, called Reverence. Sierra wouldn’t divulge many details, but says it’s being developed for missions to the ISS, among other potential applications.

The first Dream Chaser spaceplane, called Tenacity, has been delivered to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it awaits its maiden launch. Its sleek, white, slightly bird-shaped silhouette measures 30 feet long with wings that stow for launch and allow the spaceplane to fit into a conventional rocket fairing. Tenacity’s compact body and 24-foot wingspan that extends into orbit enable a key advancement: 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, Dream Chaser can carry up to 12,000 pounds of food, water and supplies to the ISS. The module is designed to burn up upon reentry, creating the potential to remove up to 8,500 pounds of waste from the space station after each mission.

Tenacity’s first flight will mark an important step toward realizing Sierra Space’s goal of becoming the largest real estate developer in space, providing the transportation and destination and commercial economy that will power the orbital era, allowing humans to live and work in space permanently. Providing the ISS is just the first step in Sierra’s aspirations for Dream Chaser to travel beyond low Earth orbit, to the Moon and, eventually, into deep space.

The company plans to develop a crewed version of Dream Chaser, capable of bringing astronauts as well as cargo to the ISS.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Sierra Space has signed agreements to begin developing a global network of landing sites that includes the Space Shuttle landing strip at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Huntsville Airport in Alabama and New Mexico’s Spaceport America, 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 various locations on Earth at a faster rate than conventional aircraft.

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