It was funded in large part by the profit Bigelow gained through his ownership of the hotel chain, Budget Suites of America.

[citation needed] Bigelow continued to develop the technology for a decade, redesigning the module fabric layers – including adding proprietary extensions of Vectran shield fabric, "a double-strength variant of Kevlar" – and developing a family of uncrewed and crewed expandable spacecraft in a variety of sizes.

The business model includes "'leasing out' small space stations or habitats made of one or more [B330] inflatable modules to different research communities or corporations".

[20][needs update] Further staff reductions occurred at the start of 2016, estimated by industry sources to be between 30 and 50 people of 150 employed at the time of the layoffs.

This came after the company advertised more than 100 jobs in 2015 at both its North Las Vegas headquarters and its newly established propulsion department in Huntsville, Alabama.

In ground-based testing, micrometeoroids capable of puncturing standard ISS module materials penetrated only about halfway through the Bigelow skin.

[10] Expected uses for Bigelow Aerospace's expandable modules include microgravity research and development and space manufacturing.

[citation needed] As of October 2015[update] the Bigelow Aerospace website shows several pricing schemes including US$51.25 million for 60 days on a B330 space station.

For US$25 million Bigelow Aerospace customers can lease a third of a B330 habitat, roughly 110 cubic meters, for a period of 60 days.

[30] In 2010, Bigelow Aerospace began building a large production facility in North Las Vegas, Nevada to produce the space modules.

[34] In March 2013, Bigelow signed an agreement with NASA to act as "the central link between NASA and dozens of private companies that want to play a role in the creation of a new economy – a space economy, including proposals far more complex than mere space tourism: research, manufacturing, medicine and agriculture.

[35] The first deliverable on that contract, a "report which identifies companies that want to be a part of this effort, as well as potential customers", was delivered by Bigelow to NASA in May 2013.

Despite ground-side difficulties during launch, the spacecraft performed as expected upon reaching orbit, inflating, deploying solar arrays and starting internal systems.

[54][55] On 28 June 2007, Genesis II launched on another Dnepr (a converted SS-18 ICBM) from Dombarovsky Cosmodrome in Orenburg Oblast, Russia.

No new images of items floating inside Genesis I have been released since shortly after the launch and initial activation of the spacecraft due to problems with a computer which controls several of the internal cameras.

[59] Like the Genesis pathfinders, Sundancer's outer surface would have been compacted around its central core, with air expanding it to its full size after entering orbit.

[52] First Base is a 330 m3 (12,000 cu ft) lunar station module that can accommodate four people; it features four airlocks and two warehouses with solar arrays on top.

Bigelow had expected human launch capability by 2014 or 2015 but "the prospect of domestic crew transportation of any kind is apparently going to occur years after the first B330 could be ready.

... For both business and technical reasons, we cannot deploy a B330 without a means of transporting crew to and from our station, and the adjustment to our employment levels was necessary to reflect this reality".

The space station will include both Sundancer and B330 expandable spacecraft modules and a central docking node, propulsion, solar arrays, and attached crew capsules.

[72] Bigelow announced in October 2010 that it has agreements with six sovereign nations to utilize on-orbit facilities of the commercial space station: United Kingdom, Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, Japan and Sweden.

[74] In November 2010, Bigelow indicated that the company would like to construct ten or more space stations and that there is a substantial commercial market to support such growth.

The intention would be for Orion Lite to provide access to low earth orbit using either the Atlas V or Falcon 9 launch systems, and carrying a crew of up to 7.

[77] As of 2010[update], Bigelow was pursuing both launch options of Boeing CST-100 / ULA Atlas V and SpaceX Dragon / Falcon 9 as capsules and launchers.

[78] "Bigelow offers Boeing, SpaceX, and other vehicle developers ... the promise of a sustained, large market for space transportation services".

[4] Bigelow entered NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) with the Starliner capsule in collaboration with Boeing.

[30] In March 2013,[35] Bigelow signed a contract with NASA to "look at ways for private ventures to contribute to human exploration missions, perhaps including construction of a moon base"[20] and to act as a clearinghouse with other commercial companies to extend commercial activity at conceptual lunar expeditionary bases in ways that are not a mainline part of NASA's current focus for human spaceflight, which is asteroid exploration missions.

[35] The Bigelow report released later in 2013 identified "an uncertain regulatory environment as a major obstacle to commercial activities" on the Moon.

[81] In December 2014, the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) completed a review of the proposed Bigelow lunar habitat, and indicated that "it was willing to use its authority to ensure Bigelow could carry out its [lunar] activities ... without interference from other [U.S.] companies licensed by the FAA" [and that the FAA would] use its launch licensing authority, as best it can, to protect private sector assets on the Moon and to provide a safe environment for companies to conduct peaceful commercial activities without fear of harmful interference from other AST licensees".

[82] The award recognizes "initiatives or new inventions that have had recent impact on or hold particular promise for satellite communications and society, and stand as distinguished examples of innovative thinking".