Crew members aboard the International Space Station will now have added space to their home in Earth’s orbit.

NASA on Saturday announced it had the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which will be analyzed over the course of a two-year test period.

The module is part of an experimental line of “expandables,”which are lightweight and require minimal payload volume on a rocket, but expand to potentially provide new and comfortable space for astronauts to live and work.

(MORE: )

NASA also said “Expandables” from solar and cosmic radiation, space debris, atomic oxygen, ultraviolet radiation and other elements of the space environment.

The module initially measured at over 7 feet long and approximately 7.75 feet in diameter. However, once pressurized, the tent-like bubble expanded to more than 13 feet long and about 10.5 feet in diameter, which created 565 cubic feet of habitable volume.

Eight tanks filled with air completed full pressurization of the module in just 10 minutes.

Leak checks will be performed over the next week, and NASA astronaut Jeff Williams is expected to enter the module a week after checks are complete.

The BEAM project is co-sponsored by NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems Division and Bigelow Aerospace.

The equipment for the 3,000-pound module mission.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: 15 Best Images of Earth Taken From International Space Station

Lake Chad and a Bodele Dust Plume, Sahara—Expedition 42: February 2, 2015