WASHINGTON, May 28, 2016 – NASA tried again Saturday to inflate an add-on room at the International Space Station, after the first attempt ran into problems due to too much friction. Efforts to inflate the flexible habitat, known as the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), got under way at about 9 am (1300 GMT). Photo courtesy of boeing.com NASA is testing expandable habitats astronauts might use on the Moon or Mars in the coming decades. A first attempt on Thursday was not successful. Operations to expand the module were led by NASA astronaut Jeff Williams. NASA said that after a series of leak checks and other preparations, space station astronauts will enter the habitat through the station’s Tranquility module. The US space agency said astronauts will re-enter the module several times a year, throughout the two-year technology demonstration, to retrieve sensor data and assess conditions inside the unit. Space [...]
