Watch the Space Station's first inflatable habitat grow in new NASA time-lapse

Watch the space station's newest experimental habitat's seven hour inflation in a matter of seconds.
 By 
Marcus Gilmer
 on 
Watch the Space Station's first inflatable habitat grow in new  NASA time-lapse
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Over the weekend, we told you about NASA's new expandable International Space Station habitat, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), a 13-foot-long by 10.5-foot-wide room now attached to the outside of the Space Station. 

On Sunday, NASA shared the above time-lapse video, which shows the full expansion of the BEAM. The entire process took about seven hours to complete, which involved NASA astronaut Jeff Williams opening a valve to eight air tanks a total of 25 times. 

The module was delivered to the ISS in April via SpaceX's Dragon capsule and was finally fully expanded on Saturday. Once crew on the ground give the OK after checking for any leaks or other issues, likely sometime in June, astronauts aboard the ISS will be able to enter the BEAM and check out their new inflatable digs. 

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Marcus Gilmer

Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.


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