Another space station is close to completion and should be in orbit by early the next decade.

This one, however, will be made of super-strong inflatable material instead of metal. It will be crewed mostly by space tourists that will pay a tidy sum to experience tourism that's totally out of this world.

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The new space station is the Bigelow Next-Generation Commercial Space Station and it should be good to go by 2020. That's the year two of Bigelow Aerospace's B330 inflatable space habitats that look like winged marshmallows will be ready for launch into low Earth orbit.

Bigelow's first space station -- and the first to be built since the International Space Station -- will consist of two B330 expandable space habitats attached to each other. The space station will have crew capsules; solar arrays for power; propulsion and a docking node.

The B330 will be the first station funded and built by private business and not by a government. It will be inflated in space to form a habitat that can protect space tourists and astronauts from the perils of outer space.

The only thing preventing Bigelow's baby from launching earlier than 2020 is the absence of a human rated orbital spacecraft, in this case the SpaceX Dragon V2, needed to transport people to the station. Dragon V2 is expected to see service starting 2017.

Currently, Bigelow's expandable spacecraft module technology is set to be tested on the ISS. That technology is represented by the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module or BEAM. It's a giant, inflatable room that might be similar in many respects to those astronauts might live in on the surface of Mars.

"At the end of May, the module will be expanded to nearly five times its compressed size of 7 feet in diameter by 8 feet in length to roughly 10 feet in diameter and 13 feet in length," said NASA in an announcement.

Over the next two years, astronauts will enter BEAM and stay inside for several hours at a time to collect data and assess conditions inside the habitat.

The BEAM space station will have room for up to three crew or tourists that can spacewalk simultaneously, compared to the maximum of two that can spacewalk outside the ISS.

Robert Bigelow, founder of Bigelow Aerospace and a hotel magnate, described the B330 expandable habitats as "time shares." He said the first visitors might be space tourists that will stay for about a week.

He also wants to name and brand his space habitats so he can keep costs down with the sponsorship money.

 "We would love to see Disney have a Disney space station," Bigelow said. "Wouldn't that be cool?"

TagsBigelow Next-Generation Commercial Space Station, B330, ISS, Robert Bigelow, Bigelow Aerospace, Beam, Bigelow Expandable Activity Module