Orion Lite For BA?

Bigelow Aerospace has a problem. It is designing ingenius, inflatable space stations due to be in service in the next decade, but, so far, no way to get people to and from the stations.

In an attempt to solve that problem, BA is considering an "Orion Lite" manned spaccecraft-- a less robust version of NASA's proposed next manned spacecraft. BA's vehicle would use the same superstructure as an Orion capsule, but it would be designed strictly for flights to low Earth orbit. NASA's Orion is being built for deep space missions, and is therefore more complex and massive than BA's proposed ship. Because it would be so much lighter, BA says its version could be launched by an Atlas 5, or by SpaceX's Falcon 9.

The space stations BA is planning would accomodate a crew of fifteen, and the company says its capsule would carry a minimum of seven passengers.

BA is confident it could have its version flying by 2013, years before NASA plans to have Orion in service.