The untidy reality of living in space

[Fat Tone]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8rHarp1GEE

Great to be able to see the entire ISS and all its nooks and crannies in 720p. It's so different to the sterile environment portrayed in most SF. There's not a lot or spare space inside for sure.

[Dr Mordrid]

Looks like a college dorm but with the junk on floor and ceiling too

Note that the modules are not that large. Columbus is 75 cu/m inside, 6.9m long, 4.5m wide and 10,275kg. Compare that to a Bigelow BA-330 module which is 330 cu/m inside, 13.7m long, 6.7 m wide and 22,000 kg. Their Sundancer module is 175 cu/m, 8.7m long, 6.3m wide and 8,620 kg. Bigelow has also announced that if the US does indeed produce a heavy lift launcher they are prepared to build single modules of up to 2,100 cu/m.

Here's a pic of the inside of a BA-330 module mockup. This is just the mid-deck, there are 3 decks total, and doesn't show the internal framing (middle pic) or 'room' dividers, but it does give an idea of how large these pups are. Artwork of the first stations initial configuration at bottom. The mechanical looking section is the power bus: orbital maneuvering system. Unlike ISS, Biglelow stations will be able to change their orbit without needing an attached spacecraft to provide the power.

Astronauts & cosmonauts who have visited the Bigelow complex have been described as "flabbergasted" at the scale of these things.

Are they being taken seriously? Extremely so. They just got a NASA CCDev (commercial crew development) contract teamed with Boeing for the development of a crew capsule and NASA's negotiating with them for a module to attach to the ISS.

[VJ]

Great to be able to see the entire ISS and all its nooks and crannies in 720p. It's so different to the sterile environment portrayed in most SF. There's not a lot or spare space inside for sure.

Ver cool!

I'm actually surprised by how big it is...
But there is really no up/down... I somehow thought they would make it visually a difference, just to make it easier to orient oneself. But it is ofcourse not necessary, so maybe it is more distracting than useful.