Bigelow Aerospace is preparing for a "major course change" after a wildly successful first month in orbit for the maiden test flight of their prototype inflatable space module, the company's founder said Friday.

Engineers stationed at a state-of-the-art control center just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, have been overseeing the flight of the company's first spacecraft, which launched into orbit July 12 using a former Russian military ballistic missile built for destruction.

This orbital view of Earth was taken by a camera aboard Bigelow's Genesis module. Credit: Bigelow Aerospace

The company has been working for the past several years developing plans for a private space station that would usher in a new era in commercial spaceflight. Completion of the project had been targeted for 2015 after testing more advanced modules in orbit in a step-by-step process.

Bankrolled by real estate and hotel tycoon Robert Bigelow, the company was established in 1999 and has since exhausted over $75 million from personal investments by Bigelow. He says up to $500 million could be needed to complete his plans for a space station.

But Bigelow appears poised to make an important change his plans.

"We are in the process of making a major course change as a company," Bigelow said.

The announcement will likely come early next year following the launch of Genesis 2, a follow-on craft similar to the module already in space.

"How successful or not that spacecraft is may influence to some degree the content of our announcement."

Bigelow first hinted that his grandiose plans could be accelerated in an update on the company's web site two weeks ago. In that posting, he cited the exceptional performance of Genesis 1, high hopes for Genesis 2, and a variety of other issues affecting the U.S. launch industry as reasons for the change.

"We hope that domestically there are some vehicles that emerge over the next several years," he told Spaceflight Now. "Otherwise, this country is in a terrible situation and it can just about kiss its launch capability goodbye, as far as the commercial private sector is concerned."

Bigelow said his company's plans do not hinge on further development of U.S. launch vehicles, but simply that he believes the industry needs change fast.

Earlier this month, Bigelow decided to postpone the planned launch of Genesis 2 to the last week of January 2007. The delay from late 2006 was due to the original date's close proximity to the holiday season, he said.

Like Genesis 1, Bigelow's next space module will use a missile taken from Russia's strategic arsenal to launch into orbit. The Dnepr rocket is sold commercially by Kosmotras, an international company with primary shareholders in Russia and Ukraine.

The postponement came just two weeks following another Dnepr rocket crashed to Earth moments after blasting off from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome. The accident left the Dnepr booster effectively grounded until an investigation is complete and remedies can be identified.

Officials with Kosmotras have released the inquiry's initial findings. The results indicate a malfunction of the hydraulic system of a combustion chamber inside the first stage engine caused a disturbance that triggered an automatic abort of the launcher's flight.

Debris from the rocket and its menagerie of small payloads landed less than 100 miles from the launch site, digging at least one large crater and a number of other potentially toxic sites scattered across remote stretches of Kazakhstan, according to news reports.

Bigelow said the decision to delay the Genesis 2 launch was unrelated to the Dnepr's recent failure.

"It was not associated with that in anyway," he explained. "We looked at our own schedule and realized that we needed some more time because of the additional unique payloads that we are wanting to fly on Genesis 2, and that we needed more time for payload integration.

"The Russians and ourselves decided that with the holidays in December and early January, it just was not practical."

In addition to Kosmotras, Bigelow has also has an agreement with Space Exploration Technologies Corp. - popularly known as SpaceX - to provide launch services for his future payloads.

"Our intent is to hopefully be the customer for more than one Falcon 9 flight," Bigelow said. "Initially we were working toward a Falcon 5, but their plans have changed, and so we changed accordingly."

SpaceX's first attempt to launch their Falcon 1 booster in March ended just seconds after liftoff when a fuel leak triggered an emergency shut down of the first stage's main engine 34 seconds into the flight. A second try could occur before the end of this year.

The Falcon 9 is currently under development by SpaceX, with a first launch currently targeted for 2008.

When asked about his confidence in the Dnepr and Falcon launch systems, Bigelow noted the uncertainty involved in all space endeavors.

"Our confidence in the entire effort of space is one where you have to emphasize caution. I wouldn't say that the word confidence is a comfortable word in the space domain as a whole.

"Whether you are flying a payload or you are looking at a launch provider, I think it's a matter of degree. Would you say that you have absolute confidence, unequivocally, in the shuttle? Of course you don't, and you would not say that because of the history of that vehicle, but the probability is that it is going to fly successfully.

"What we get into is what kind of probabilities different launch vehicles have. In the case of untried launch vehicles we are in the ‘hope for' category."

As for Genesis 1, a handful of minor problems have been overcome by the ground team, and officials thus far are pleased with the performance of their inaugural space module.

Engineers had wrestled with small attitude control problems since the spacecraft reached orbit, but the control system was finally fully activated in early August. The fix slowed the rotation of the module by more than 16 times, and controllers predicted the craft's attitude would eventually become even more stable. This improvement allows for more reliable communications links between Genesis 1 and ground stations.

Even Bigelow himself had guarded expectations for their first flight. "We were more prepared actually for failure than we were for success," he said last month.

Next year, Genesis 2 will give customers an opportunity to send photos or other small objects into space for around $295 per item. The program - called "Fly Your Stuff" - was originally planned to be part of several upcoming missions. However, the shake-up in Bigelow's future schedule means the initiative will likely be abandoned after Genesis 2.

Customers have until November 1 to sign up, unless the available room is filled before then.