Getting Launched Into Space

Michael Belfiore, at Dispatches From the Final Frontier, says that Robert Bigelow plans to use a Russian Dnepr rocket to launch a 1/3-scale Genesis model of his planned commercial orbital space station on June 16. Onboard that model will be 1000 photocards and other personal objects from his employees, all blowing continuously around inside the model space station.

There will be 6 on-board cameras continuously broadcasting images of these objects back to Earth, along with 7 external cameras providing continuous views of the Earth from space.

Now, here's the cool part. If everything goes according to plan, Bigelow will launch another Genesis module in September. That one will contain personal objects from anyone willing to pay $295.00. Just think of it, you could send your own image or images of family and friends into space. You can also choose to send an item into space, as long as it's smaller than a golf ball. Then, for years to come, you can visit the Bigelow Aerospace website and watch for your image of object to flash in front of a camera.

One warning, though, it's a one way trip.

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