Genesis 1

Genesis 1 was launched on 13 July 2006 by a Dnepr launcher from the Russian Dombarovsky base. It is a prototype of an inhabited space station on a scale of 1/3 of the modules that will form the future orbital hotel which is the private dream of the American billionaire Robert Bigelow.

This first copy is built in carbon fibre materials and Kevlar, as well as a coating that should protect it from space debris and micrometeorite impacts. It weighs 1270 kilogrammes and in its launch configuration is 4.26 m long and 1.2 m wide. On board, it carries the personnel effects of Bigelow's employees, 13 cameras and some insects.