The Destiny module is the primary operating facility for U.S. research payloads aboard the International Space Station (ISS). It was berthed to the Unity module and activated over a period of five days in February, 2001. Destiny is NASA’s first permanent operating orbital research station since Skylab was vacated in February 1974. Astronauts work inside the pressurized facility to conduct …
Columbus is a science laboratory that is part of the International Space Station (ISS) and is the largest single contribution to the ISS made by the European Space Agency (ESA). Like the Harmony and Tranquility modules, the Columbus laboratory was constructed in Turin, Italy by Rome based Thales Alenia Space with respect to structures and thermal control. The functional architecture …
The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is an experimental expandable space station module developed by Bigelow Aerospace, under contract to NASA, for testing as a temporary module on the International Space Station (ISS) from 2016 to 2018. Bigelow plans to build a second BEAM module as an airlock for the Bigelow Commercial Space Station.
Harmony, also known as Node 2, is the “utility hub” of the International Space Station. The hub contains four racks that provide electrical power, plus electronic data, and act as a central connecting point for several other components via its six Common Berthing Mechanisms (CBMs). Harmony added 2,666 cubic feet (75.5 m3) to the station’s living volume, an increase of almost …
There are three PMAs located on the International Space Station (ISS). All the PMAs on the ISS are identical but used slightly differently, and all three perform the same basic function of connecting a Common Berthing Mechanism port of an ISS module to an APAS-95 docking port of another module or visiting spacecraft. For this the PMAs carry a passive …
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) is a particle physics experiment module that is mounted on the International Space Station (ISS). It is designed to measure antimatter in cosmic rays and search for evidence of dark matter. This information is needed to understand the formation of the Universe. The principal investigator is Nobel laureate particle physicist Samuel Ting. By April 15, …
Previously known as the Joint Airlock Module, is the primary airlock for the International Space Station. Quest was designed to host spacewalks with both Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits and Orlan space suits. Before Quest was attached, Russian spacewalks using Orlan suits could only be done from the Zvezda service module and American spacewalks using EMUs were only possible when …
A Japanese science module developed by JAXA, also know as Kibo “Hope”. It is the largest single ISS module. Kibō consists of six major elements: 1) Pressurized Module (PM), 2) Exposed Facility (EF), 3) Experiment Logistics Module-Pressurized Section (ELM-PS), 4) Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section (ELM-ES), 5) Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System (JEM-RMS), and 6) Inter-orbit Communication System (ICS). The …