Astronauts enter inflatable room at space station
W ASHINGTON (AFP) - Astronauts entered an inflatable add-on room at the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday for the first time since it was fully installed last month, NASA said. US astronaut Jeff Williams told the US space agency’s mission control that the flexible habitat -- known as the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) -- looked "pristine" and was cold inside after entering for the first in a two-year series of tests, NASA said in a statement. NASA is testing expandable habitats astronauts might use on the Moon or Mars in the coming decades. Williams opened the module’s door at 4:47 US East Coast time (0847 GMT) before entering with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka to take an air sample, start collecting data from sensors and check air ducts. "First steps into #BEAM will expand the frontiers of habitats for space," the ISS tweeted before Monday’s operation. Astronauts will enter the module again on Tuesday and Wednesday to test sen...