Genesis 1

Launch data: Designation  29252 / 06029A Launch date  12 Jul 2006 - 14:53 UT Launch site  Dombarovsky Missile Base Launch vehicle  Dnepr Mission  Commercial: Technology development LEO Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee  555 x 562 km Eccentricity  5,05E-04 Inclination  64.51° Period  95.83 min

Spacecraft data: Prime contractor  Bigelow Aerospace Operator  Bigelow Aerospace Platform   Mass at launch  1360 kg Dry Mass   kg Basic shape   Dimension (m)   Solar array   Stabilization   DC power   Design lifetime  5 yrs - still active

Genesis-1 in orbit

Mission details:

• On 12 July 2006, the company launched its Genesis I experimental habitat module into orbit, atop a Dnepr rocket from the Dombrarovsky missile base, near Yasny in Russia′s Orenburg Oblast. It&prime.s the first orbital launch from the Dombarovskiy launch site, previously just an intercontinental missile base. The Dnepr converted ICBM orbited a US commercial satellite, Bigelow Aerospace's Genesis 1 inflatable spacecraft.
• Genesis 1 is a pathfinder for future human-occupied space station modules, and represented a one-third scale model of Bigelow′s anticipated BA-330 facility. Its single gas tank successfully inflated Genesis I to its full size of 1.9 to 3.8 meters diameter once on orbit and deployed a pair of solar arrays.
  It was launched to a 555 x 561 km x 64.5 deg orbit and total interior habitable volume of 406 cubic feet.
• In spite of a major radiation event, caused by a solar storm, in December 2006 Genesis I endured and remained functional for more than two years. Within its pressurized confines, it carried photographs, toys, and cards from Bigelow employees, together with NASA′s GeneBox nanosatellite demo and a life sciences payload of Madagascan hissing cockroaches and Mexican jumping beans. The module is still in orbit and should not re-enter the atmosphere until the latter part of the present decade.