Which SpaceX cargo mission delivered BEAM to the ISS?

SpaceX CRS-8 delivered BEAM to the International Space Station. Launched on April 8, 2016, CRS-8 was a NASA Commercial Resupply Services flight using a Dragon cargo spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket. Its Dragon capsule carried more than 3,100 kilograms of supplies, experiments, and hardware.

BEAM—the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module—was packed in Dragon’s unpressurized trunk. After Dragon arrived, the station’s robotic Canadarm2 moved BEAM to the aft port of the Tranquility module. Astronauts then expanded the compact module into a room-sized demonstration habitat. Its purpose was to test whether lightweight, inflatable structures could provide useful protection and living space in orbit.

A common mix-up is confusing CRS-8 with CRS-7 or CRS-9, which were neighboring SpaceX cargo missions but did not deliver BEAM. CRS-8 was also notable because its first-stage booster successfully landed back at Cape Canaveral, an important milestone in SpaceX’s reusable-rocket program. BEAM remained attached to the ISS for years while NASA and Bigelow monitored its performance.