A day after a visit to Bigelow Aerospace’s corporate headquarters to interview Robert Bigelow, myself and a number of other reporters traveled up to the company’s manufacturing facility in an industrial park in North Las Vegas (with a spectacular view of the Las Vegas skyline) for a press conference and tour. At the press conference, Robert Bigelow and six other company employees, including project manager Eric Haakonstad, entertained questions for an hour about Genesis 1 and the company in general. A lot of the questions covered the same ground I did with Bigelow himself yesterday; MSNBC’s Alan Boyle has an excellent summary, with photos, of the event. (While those on a separate tour of the plant organized by the Space Frontier Foundation could not take photos, reporters on a separate tour could, albeit with significant restrictions, as Alan discussed in his Cosmic Log account.)
Here are a few photos of my own from the event:
A full-scale mockup of the pressure vessle of the full-sized module Bigelow is developing.
Robert Bigelow and project manager Eric Haakonstad at the press conference.
A view inside the mission control center for Genesis-1. The modern facility, with giant video screens on two walls, was completed just last month.
Several members of Genesis 1 team, as well as one of the ubiquitous (but friendly) security guards, pose in front a full-sized mockup of Genesis 1.
Bigelow’s achievement is impressive, but the real stakes are much higher in space. How High?
THIS HIGH.
BONJOUR A TOUSET SURTOU MR ROBERT BIGELOW 1989 DÉCOUVERTE D,UNE VRAI PORTE DES ÉTOILES OU ON VOI DES O.V.N.I.VENIR SUR TERRE ET EN REPARTIRE LA PORTE EST AU CANADA A BITIBI POUR PHOTO ET CONTACT CG-1C@HOTMAIL.COM CLÉMENT GAUTHIER CANADA ABITIBI VOIR VIDÉO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObsYAoCqMnE