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Space habitat in low earth orbit, illustration
Illustration of a manned habitat, or small space station, orbiting Earth at an altitude of 400 kilometres. The habitat is composed of two modules connected in the middle by docking ports. On the left is a hard-walled habitat similar to the modules that make up the pressurized environments of the International Space Station, while on the right is soft-walled inflatable habitat that is collapsed and folded during launch. Once in orbit it is inflated like a balloon with a pressurized and breathable atmosphere. Both modules provide a comfortable shirt-sleeve, albeit weightless, environment for several astronauts. Such a configuration could one day be amenable to space tourism. Earth image courtesy of the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center.
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