Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image credit: Sierra Space/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Sierra Space is working on expandable space station technology. The group reports that on June 18 the firm’s full-scale structural test passed a seventh key validation milestone – its second full-scale structural test.

Image credit: Sierra Space/Inside Outer Space screengrab

The “Ultimate Burst Pressure test” was done at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, in collaboration with ILC Dover (an Ingersoll Rand Business) and NASA.

Pathfinder mission

Sierra Space notes in a press statement that test results move the company forward to build the world’s first end-to-end business and technology platform in low Earth orbit.

Planned for an initial stand-alone pathfinder mission before the end of the decade, the technology is also a key element of Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef commercial space station under NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program.

Image credit: Sierra Space/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Go to this eye-popping video of the test at:

https://youtu.be/WDhrM6dsGJA?si=bU2HILy0cvrn4w-Y