Private orbital effort scores second success

All aboard Genesis 2
Genesis 2 is the first Bigelow Aerospace module to carry a clutch of personal items under the firm's "Fly Your Stuff" campaign, which allowed paying customers to load photographs and other possessions to ride into orbit and be captured by onboard cameras.

Also tucked aboard Genesis 2 are a Space Bingo game and a "Biobox" experimental package filled with ant farms, scorpions and Madagascar hissing cockroaches.

The Space Bingo game is chiefly aimed at entertainment, with no actual wagering involved, and is slated to begin operations a few months after launch. Bigelow Aerospace officials said the so-called Bingo Box will use fans and levers to autonomously mix and select bingo balls during games presented on the firm's Web site.

Genesis 2's Biobox, meanwhile, is a three-chamber pressurized vessel with compartments for biological specimens to be observed by onboard cameras.

In addition to the hissing cockroaches, the same type that flew aboard Genesis 1, the Biobox's chambers contain a group of South African flat rock scorpions, one of which was named Antares by a fifth-grade class in Pennsylvania. A farm of California red harvester ants rounds out Genesis 2's biological payload, the camera views of which are expected to be available on the Bigelow Aerospace website during the mission.

Step toward larger modules
The Genesis 2 and 1 modules are one-third scale versions of Bigelow Aerospace's planned manned orbital vehicles that are expected to begin flying as early as 2010.

Next year, the firm plans to launch Galaxy — another pathfinder module that builds on the Genesis vehicles — before flying its first crew-rated spacecraft Sundancer in 2010. Galaxy is slated to have 45 percent more habitable space than the Genesis craft, with a pressurized volume of about 589 cubic feet (16.7 cubic meters).

Slideshow   Cosmic Sightings Get fresh perspectives on the Crab Nebula, the Milky Way and other wonders in November's roundup of out-of-this-world imagery. more photos

The three-person, 6,356-cubic-foot (180-cubic-meter) volume Sundancer is expected to be bolstered by the addition of a connecting node and propulsion bus in 2011 to lay the foundation to support Bigelow Aerospace's planned BA 330 module. The larger BA 330 is expected to include an 11,653-cubic-foot (330-cubic meter) habitable volume, when fully inflated, and is slated to dock with Sundancer and its node-propulsion bus by 2012.

In pre-liftoff action Thursday, due to the rain at the launch area, a baseball game that included Robert Bigelow was played inside the large satellite integration and test building on the base. "Just another example of Bigelow Aerospace innovation ... we don't let anything stop us," Gold said.

Gold noted that technical and procedural changes have been made of late to the Dnepr launch-for-hire business. Those changes were demonstrated by two recent successful launches of the booster. Steps taken were brought about due to the failure of the Dnepr booster last July 26.

"With Genesis 1 we put one foot ahead of us. With Genesis 2 we put another foot ahead of us, which means that we're walking," said Gold. "I look forward to running and what that's going to be like at Bigelow Aerospace."

Space.com special contributor Leonard David contributed to this report from Boulder, Colo. This report also has been updated by MSNBC.com.

MORE FROM SPACE

Space Section Front

Russia admits missile caused UFO lights Cosmic Log: Light show sparks UFO buzz Hunt for new worlds goes into overdrive Top 11 planet-hunting telescopes New images show Saturn's weird hexagon cloud NASA finally resurrects sick Mars orbiter First Monarch butterflies in space take flight New space scope to begin epic photo shoot Hubble telescope spots most distant galaxies NASA cooks up ingredients for life Space Section Front   Add Space headlines to your news reader: