国际空间站取得充气式的扩展 美国国家航空和航天局(NASA)成功地充气了一个新太空舱。在太空中，宇航员在这个房间里能进行试验。这个充气式太空舱扩展了国际空间站(ISS)。太空舱大约长4米和宽3.2米。花了三天时间才能充满气。ISS的宇航员现在必须等待一个星期才能进入太空舱。NASA的工程师先必须确定房间是密闭的。这个充气式太空舱是试验的一部分，试验在研究充气式的住处的可行性。如果这个项目成功，这种技术就能用在月球上，在火星上，还在轨道地球的太空酒店上。NASA花了1.78千万美元造了这个充气式太空舱模型。NASA希望这个初步试验促使空间站上有更大的充气太空舱。 这是世界上的第一个被宇航员用得膨胀式太空舱。被正式命名为“比格罗膨胀式活动舱”，简称 BEAM。据Bigelow宇航公司的名字命名，这家公司设计了和建设了太空舱。公司创建者Robert Bigelow投资了和建设了酒店很多年。他现在在开发一个项目建设两个私人的空间站，这些空间站在本十年末用作天空中的酒店。他说他预见充气式太空舱对未来的太空旅游有关键的职能。充气式太空舱在压缩的时候足够小以输送，却在充满气的时候足够强才能住在里面。 International Space Station Gets Air-Filled Extension America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has successfully inflated a new, experimental room for crew members to use in space. The inflatable pod is now an extension to the International Space Station (ISS). It is roughly four metres long and 3.2 metres wide. It took three days to fully inflate. ISS crew members now have to wait a week before entering it. NASA engineers must first ensure it is airtight. The blow-up compartment is part of a test on the feasibility of inflatable accommodation on the Moon and Mars, and of orbiting space hotels. NASA paid $17.8 million for the demo capsule. It hopes this initial test will lead to bigger inflatable rooms at the space station. The inflatable is the world's first blow-up capsule for astronauts, cosmonauts and other space travellers. It is called the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM for short. It is named after Bigelow Aerospace, the company that designed and built it. Company founder Robert Bigelow has spent many years investing in and building hotels. He is currently working on a project to build two private space stations that could serve as hotels in the heavens by the end of the decade. He said he envisions inflatables as a big part of space travel and tourism in the future. The pods are small enough to transport as compressed, airless units, but big enough and sturdy enough to live in, once filled with air.