Bigelow Aerospace is a North Las Vegas, Nevada space technology startup company that is pioneering work on expandable space station modules. Bigelow Aerospace was founded by Robert Bigelow in 1998and is funded in large part by the fortune Bigelow gained through his ownership of the hotel chain Budget Suites of America. By 2010, Bigelow had invested US$180 million in the company. Bigelow has stated on multiple occasions that he is prepared to fund Bigelow Aerospace with about US$500 million through 2015 in order to achieve launch of full-scale hardware. Bigelow is pioneering a new market in a flexible and configurable set of space habitats. Moreover, industry observers have noted that Bigelow is demonstrating audacity to pioneer such a market "in a capital-intensive, highly-regulated industry like spaceflight."Due to delays in launch capability to transport humans to low-Earth orbit, Bigelow dramatically reduced their staff in late September, 2011, because crew transportation would become available "years after the first BA 330 could be ready." - Source: Wikipedia
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