The Bigelow Next-Generation Commercial Space Station was a private orbital space station under conceptual development by Bigelow Aerospace in the 2000s and 2010s. Previous concepts of the space station had included multiple modules such as two B330 expandable spacecraft modules as well as a central docking node, propulsion, solar arrays, and attached crew capsules. However it was also suggested that each B330 can operate as an independent space station. Attaching a B330 to the International Space Station or flying a B330 alone have been suggested by Robert Bigelow.
On 8 April 2016, NASA launched a Bigelow inflatable module and attached it to the ISS, where it has been tested for over four years.
History
Early work at Bigelow Aerospace on expandable space habitats, with plans to eventually assemble them into on-orbit space stations, began in the early years after the company was formed in 1999. By 2004, plans made public included assembly of multiple modules "into a manned space facility in low Earth orbit for both and funded research and for space tourism."
Two more formal concepts have since been made public. By 2005, Bigelow space station plans had been further conceptualized into Commercial Space Station Skywalker, or CSS Skywalker. In mid-2010, Bigelow announced their Next-Generation Commercial Space Station—later named "Space Complex Alpha".
The initial dates for the Alpha complex were not achieved. In January 2013, the Alpha complex was specified to be an in-space assemblage of only two B330 modules, with the first module to be launched no earlier than 2016.
CSS Skywalker
The CSS Skywalker (Commercial Space Station Skywalker) was a 2005 concept for the first "space hotel" by Bigelow Aerospace. The Skywalker was designed to be composed of multiple Nautilus (B330) habitat modules, which would be inflated and connected upon reaching orbit. An MDPM (Multi-Directional Propulsion Module) would allow the Skywalker to be moved into interplanetary or lunar trajectories.
In short, CSS Skywalker was "an effort to build the planet's first orbiting space hotel, [with a projected] room rate of USD$1 million per night", and a hoped-for launch date for the first Nautilus module of 2010.
Company challenges
Early assessments of the probability of success of the technology development and challenges of a commercial space station pointed to the importance of factors largely beyond Bigelow's control. For example, in 2005, John M. Logsdon, director of George Washington University's Space Policy Institute said "I have little doubt that the basic technology is likely to work ... The issue is whether there's a transportation system that can get people or things, or both, up there."
In practice, orbital launch plans were significantly delayed. First, after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, Bigelow had to compete with NASA for rides on the Russian Soyuz three-person rocket — "a distinctly untenable position." In mid-2009, Bigelow announced they were continuing to develop a variety of space habitat architectures.
Space transport
In 2008, Bigelow initially began talks with Lockheed Martin to potentially contract launch services on its Atlas V-401 vehicle for both crew and cargo launches.
By mid-2010, Bigelow was actively pursuing launch options for its space station modules and crew capsules from two launch systems: the Boeing CST-100 capsule on a ULA Atlas V launcher and also the SpaceX Dragon / Falcon 9 capsule/launcher combination. "Bigelow offers Boeing, SpaceX, and other vehicle developers ... the promise of a sustained, large market for space transportation services." With the initial Space Complex Alpha, Bigelow "would need six flights a year; with the launch of a second, larger station, that number would grow to 24, or two a month." After 2010, no further concrete plans have been announced for transport with Atlas V launch vehicles.
In May 2012, almost simultaneously with the successful mission of SpaceX's Dragon capsule, launched by SpaceX's Falcon 9 vehicle, to the International Space Station, Bigelow and SpaceX jointly announced that they were teaming to offer private crewed missions to space, promoting the Bigelow space station and SpaceX transport systems.
In 2014, plans called for transport of humans and resupply cargo to the station to be via a SpaceX Dragon V2, with a round-trip seat priced at . Lease of the on-orbit stations was priced at to rent one-third of a B330 module for 60 days. The B330 modules and any of several tugs were planned for launch aboard a Falcon Heavy launch vehicle.