An Inhabitable 'Bouncy Castle' is Headed Into Space

[Narrator] When human's leave the earth for good,

they're gonna need a comfy place to stay.

International Space Station has just the place.

It's something like a big, bouncy castle for kids,

just built to house astronauts, solar system colonists,

and tourists looking for an out of this world vacation.

The prototype bouncy castle is on it's way

to space this week.

It's called the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module,

or BEAM, and it will stay attached to the ISS for two years.

(upbeat music)

A few weeks after it arrives,

astronauts will press a button,

and the module would begin it's

automated inflation process.

Growing from the Space Station's side like

a zit the size of a small bedroom.

Imagine it, a small, bounce house bedroom in space!

Although, tragically, it will remain empty

for most of the time.

Except four times a year,

the Station's astronauts will get to actually,

you know, inhabit the place.

For three hours at a time,

they'll collect data about the module's

temperature, pressure, and radiation.

Hopefully those check-in's will show that

the technology is safe enough to actually live in.

If it all works out,

Bigelow plans to install blow-up

houses around the solar system, and perhaps beyond.

Maybe this is the start of the first hotel chain in space.