The $27.2 million portalwill be attached to an Earth-facing side of Tranquility and promises to giveastronauts on the station unparalleled views of their home planet and space.īothTranquility and the Cupola were built for NASA by the European Space Agency.Their delivery is NASA?s last big construction job for the space station, whichwill be about 98 percent complete once they?re installed. ![]() TheCupola is a seven-window observation deck with a huge round central pane thatis the largest single window ever to fly in space. The $382 million module will be the home forthe station?s life support, exercise and robotic arm control systems. Namedafter NASA?s historic Apollo 11 moon base, the Tranquility module is a 24-foot(7.3-meter) long cylinder that is nearly 15 feet (4.5 meters) wide and weighsabout 40,000 pounds (18,143 kg). ?We?re going to goand add not just a new room on the house, but probably the most complex room onthe house.? ?Thisis a big construction mission,? Robinson said before launch. Three spacewalks and some tricky roboticarm acrobatics are on tap to install the new additions. Tonight?s inspection, as well as other surveys during themission, will help engineers determine the health of Endeavour?s heat shield.Įndeavour?screw is delivering a new room called Tranquility and an observation dome called theCupola that is covered in windows. NASAspotted several pieces of foam insulation shed from Endeavour?s tank duringliftoff, but none appeared to hit the shuttle when they peeled off, missionmanagers said. The astronauts will go to sleep later this morning andwake up in the early evening to begin the second ?day? of their mission ? oneaimed at scanning their heat shield for damage. Whilethey?re in space, Endeavour?s crew will be working on an overnight shift andsleeping during the day. Robinsonforgot his flight notebook when he went to the launch pad, but a NASA workermanaged to fetch it for him before he launched on the shuttle. Onlookers shouted and cheered as they headed to the launch pad,calling, ?We love you!? and ?Have a great time!? At the launch pad, theastronauts made some last few phone calls and took photos before boardingEndeavour. Theshuttle astronauts wore broad smiles as they trekked out to Endeavour beforelaunch. Theydid not get a chance to watch the Super Bowl 44 on Sunday, but the game wasbeamed to the space station for astronauts there to watch, NASA officials said.Former NFL linebacker Johnny Holland of the Green Bay Packers attendedEndeavour?s launch, they added. With the exception of Virts ? who is makinghis first spaceflight ? all are spaceflight veterans. ![]() Ridingaboard Endeavour with Zamkaare shuttle pilot Terry Virtsand mission specialists Robert Behnken, Kathryn Hire, Nick Patrick andStephen Robinson. Themission is the first of NASA?s five final shuttle missions this year before thespace agency retires its aging orbiter fleet in the fall. The shuttle will dock at the station on Wednesday morning at12:09 a.m. Zamka and his five-man, one-woman crew willdeliver a brand-new room and an observation deck to the International SpaceStation during their planned 13-dayspaceflight. NASA officialsestimated the number of spectators watching Endeavour?s blastoff in thethousands. All of NASA?s fourremaining launches are scheduled to lift off during daylight. Itwas the 34th time a space shuttle has launched at night.
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