Bigelow Expandable Activity Module: Difference between revisions

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In early 2015, BEAM was scheduled for deployment on the next available ISS transport vehicle, [[SpaceX CRS-8]], which was scheduled for launch in September 2015. Due to a rocket failure during the SpaceX CRS-7 launch in June 2015, the delivery of BEAM was delayed.<ref name="nasasf20150907"/><ref name="launchlog"/> The successful launch of SpaceX CRS-8 took place on April 8, 2016,<ref name="nasasf20160408"/> and the Dragon cargo vehicle was berthed to the nadir port of ''[[Harmony (ISS module)|Harmony]]'' node on April 10.<ref name="unitoday20160411"/> On April 16, British astronaut [[Tim Peake]] extracted BEAM from Dragon's trunk using Canadarm2, and installed it on the aft port of ''[[Tranquility (ISS module)|Tranquility]]'' node.<ref name="sfnow20160416"/>
 
The first attempt at module inflation took place on May 26, 2016, and was suspended after higher-than-expected air pressure inside BEAM was detected with minimal expansion of the module.<ref name="space20160527"/> The attempt was terminated after two hours.<ref name="verge20160527"/> The failure to expand and unfold may be result of the unanticipated 10-month delay in module inflation, which may have caused the fabric layers to stick together.<ref name="space20160527" /> The module was expanded on May 28 over the course of seven hours, with air being injected 25 times for a total of 2 minutes 27 seconds.<ref name="nasa20160528"/> Its length was extended {{convert|67|in|cm|order=flip|abbr=on}} from its stowed configuration, {{convert|1|in|cm|order=flip|abbr=on}} less than expected.<ref name="spacepol20160528"/> After expansion was complete, air tanks aboard BEAM were opened to equalize air pressure in the module with that of the ISS.<ref name="spacenews20160528"/> The module was to be monitored for two years.<ref name="spacepol20160528" /><ref name="spacenews20160528" />
 
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