"Tycoon to test space station technology"

Hmm. This sounds interesting.

LOS ANGELES - A hotel tycoon's dream of building an inflatable commercial space station is taking a step toward reality — or a reality check — with the launch of a satellite that will test the technology behind the orbital outpost.

The fact-finding mission scheduled for this week will explore the feasibility of Robert Bigelow's planned commercial space complex. When finished by 2015, he said, it will consist of balloon-like modules strung together like sausage links and serve as a hotel, laboratory, college or entertainment venue. ...

The company plans to boost several prototypes into orbit this decade to increase the chances of success. Subsequent launches will test docking among spacecraft. But the maiden Genesis flight will primarily test the inflation process.

The concept of balloon modules for space vessels is something NASA apparently considered in the past but rejected as being too costly. I wish Bigelow well and hope he gets a good return on his investment, but he had better find some good success with this technology. Though the structures are supposedly "pop-proof", I don't see people paying money to crawl inside a big balloon in space unless it has a good performance record.