15 Facts About Robert Bigelow

Robert Thomas Bigelow was born on May 12,1944 and is an American businessman.

Robert Bigelow owns the hotel chain Budget Suites of America and is the founder of Bigelow Aerospace.

Robert Bigelow grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, attended Highland Elementary School, and was first exposed to science through a number of the nuclear weapons tests conducted about 70 miles northwest of the city.

At age 12, Robert Bigelow decided that his future lay in space travel.

Robert Bigelow enrolled in the University of Nevada, Reno, in 1962 to study banking and real estate, and he graduated from Arizona State University in 1967.

Robert Bigelow Aerospace has launched two experimental space modules, Genesis I in 2006 and Genesis II in 2007, and had planned for full-scale space habitats to be used as orbital hotels, research labs and factories.

In 2013, Robert Bigelow indicated that the reason he went into the commercial real estate business was to obtain the requisite resources to be able to fund a team developing space destinations.

In October 2017, Robert Bigelow announced that he planned to put an inflatable "space hotel" into orbit by 2022.

In March 2020, Robert Bigelow Aerospace laid off all 88 members of staff and halted operations after over 20 years of business, in a move that was partly caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In 1995, Robert Bigelow founded the National Institute for Discovery Science to fund the research and study of various fringe sciences and paranormal topics, most notably ufology.

In 1996, Robert Bigelow purchased Skinwalker Ranch, a 512-acre cattle ranch located in Utah that is the site of purported paranormal phenomena, such as inter-dimensional shape-shifters.

In December 2017, Robert Bigelow was reported by the New York Times to have urged Senator Harry Reid to initiate what became the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, a government study which operated from 2007 to 2012 tasked with the study of UFOs.

In June 2020, Robert Bigelow founded the Robert Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies to support investigations into life after death.

Robert Bigelow was married to Diane Mona Robert Bigelow for 55 years until her death in 2020.

Robert Bigelow has contributed over $25 million to groups and causes supporting Joe Lombardo's candidacy for governor of Nevada.