During a December test at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, Sierra Space’s 300 cubic meter inflatable structure withstood five times the pressure it would need to handle in space. The so-called ultimate burst pressure test was designed to measure the limits of the soft goods technology Sierra Space is developing alongside ILC Dover, which also built spacesuits for NASA.

The 27-foot-diameter (8.2-meter) inflatable structure burst at 77 psi, exceeding NASA’s recommended safety standard of 60.8 psi, which is four times the module’s real-life operating pressure at 15.2 psi.

The recent full-scale burst test will provide data for a milestone on the Orbital Reef program with NASA, which has a $172 million funding agreement with the Blue Origin-led Orbital Reef team to develop technologies for a future space station.

“We are well on our way to having our habitats ready for launch in 2026,” Buckley said. Last year, Sierra Space disclosed plans to launch a LIFE habitat into orbit as a pathfinder before Orbital Reef. This could fly by the end of 2026, said Tom Vice, Sierra Space’s CEO, in a presentation last year.