In 1998, Donna Fender, a project manager at Nasa's Johnson Space Centre, Houston, came up with a radical idea for a space station. "You make your cabins lightweight so you can launch them easily, and you make them big, so people can live in them. We had a great idea. Don't build them. Blow them up." The Transit Habitation Module (TransHab) is made from fabrics instead of metal. Once in orbit, it inflates like a balloon, doubling its volume. Its tough outer shell, made from bullet-proof Kevlar, is resistant to meteorite impacts. Foldaway floors provide accommodation. Funding problems and political issues prevented Nasa from exploiting a potentially brilliant idea.
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