ARLINGTON, Virginia (AP) -- A Las Vegas hotel tycoon is seeking permission from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to build a private space station, something he contends can be done in the next three years.
Robert Bigelow, who made his fortune as owner of Budget Suites of America, said he anticipates that his Bigelow Aerospace division will be able to launch a full-size space station module into orbit within 30 months.
It would take three such modules linked together to create a space station the size of the current International Space Station, he said.
Bigelow has since hired the Washington law firm of Patton Boggs to help him shepherd the request through a process that has no precedent.
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"They are asking us for patience and for a lot of details,'' said Bigelow, who
formed Bigelow Aerospace in 1999 and has promised to spend $500 million on his effort over the next 15 years. "The papers and forms don't exist for an application like this.''
Bigelow said the private space station would be a destination for space tourists and could be used by drug firms and other manufacturers who benefit from a zero-gravity environment.
The station's viability also depends on developing a commercially practical way of transporting space tourists. Bigelow's company is not involved in that effort, but other companies are.
The political and legal hurdles to launching such a station will be greater than the technological difficulties, Bigelow said.
"NASA views space as its own monopoly. ... It will be very difficult to break that monopoly,'' Bigelow said, noting NASA's resistance to
Dennis Tito's Russian-sponsored visit to the space station.
NASA, however, is not a regulatory agency, and it appears that the FAA would have jurisdiction over commercial spaceflight.
FAA spokesman Hank Price said several companies have had informal discussions with the FAA to learn what would be required to gain permission to launch people into space.
He said any applicant would face a number of technological and financial hurdles to gaining approval, including a requirement for sufficient insurance that can be cost prohibitive.
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