Some of these craft are also chasing financial support from Nasa's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Program.

BBC: New rocket could lift astronauts

When Congress killed the program's funding in 2000, Bigelow licensed the government patents and began modernizing them for commercial development.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Work on the software began in 2001, and was completed last year, although Collomosse said the program was still a prototype and a lot of development would be needed to turn it into a commercial product.

CNN: Software brings photos to life