A couple of really cool videos....

It's a pretty exciting time for fans of the newspace startups, and to show you what I mean here're three recent video clips.

First: SpaceX has landed a re-usable Falcon 9 rocket for the fourth time, the third time consecutively. It's no longer groundbreaking, and that's why it's brilliant: They're building up a record of success, which s what they really need to prove to the world that their re-usable rockets can be relied upon, and can genuinely bring the cost of reaching space down. Here's the mission as seen by the rockets onboard camera... 

Meanwhile, on the International Space Station, an new room has been installed: The BEAM module was designed and built by Bigelow Aerospace as a demonstrator for technology that they hope will kickstart a new age of in space building. The module is inflatable, held up by bladders filled with gas rather than solid struts. That means it can literally be launched folded up like a tent*, which means a huge saving in weight and space. Here's the time lapse video of it being installed...

After a nerve wracking false start on Thursday, when the module seemed to be stuck, on Saturday they were able to get it fully expanded.....

People are working - and succeeding - in bring down the cost of getting to space, and the cost of building in space... and now I can't wait to see what the future brings! 

Above: A graphic of Bigelow's proposed B330 space station.

* Not literally like a tent, because I'm a Scout leader and know  tents are often packed by shoving them brutally into backpacks and sitting on them, unless I stand there and make them do it properly. Ahem. I mean that the BEAM was folded up.