inflatable space-hotel launch successful

Inflatable spacecraft launches from Russia

The Genesis I spacecraft lifted off from the southern Ural Mountains at 6:53 p.m. Moscow time aboard a converted Cold War ballistic missile, according to the Russian Strategic Missile Forces. It reached its designated orbit about 320 miles above Earth minutes after liftoff.

gotta hand it to the folks at bigelow aerospace. looks like they're off to a good start on their 'space hotel' project.

based on nasa's transhab project (another victim of the short-sighted u.s. space scalebacks), it's designed to create affordable, module orbiting habitats. for all the geeks out there, they're building plug-in modules for space!

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