Destiny Laboratory Attached to International Space
Station
On Feb. 10, 2001, the crews of the Space Shuttle Atlantis and the
International Space Station successfully installed the U.S. Destiny Laboratory
onto the station. In this photo, Destiny is moved by the shuttle's remote
manipulator system (RMS) robot arm from its stowage position in the cargo bay of
the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Astronaut Marsha Ivins began the work, using
Atlantis' robotic arm to remove a station docking port, called Pressurized
Mating Adapter 2 (PMA 2), to make room for Destiny. The adapter was removed from
the station's Unity module and latched in a temporary position on the station's
truss. Then, at 9:50 a.m. CST, astronauts Tom Jones and Bob Curbeam began a
spacewalk that continued throughout the day, in tandem with Ivin's robotic arm
work. Jones provided Ivins visual cues as she moved the adapter to its temporary
position, and Curbeam removed protective launch covers and disconnected power
and cooling cables between the Destiny lab and Atlantis. At 12:57 p.m., the lab
was latched into position on the station, and soon a set of automatic bolts
tightened to hold it permanently in place for years of space research. The lab
added 3,800 cubic feet of volume to the station, increasing the onboard living
space by 41 percent.
The 2005 NASA Authorization Act designated the U.S segment of the space
station as a national laboratory. As the nation's only national laboratory
on-orbit, the space station National Lab will improve life on Earth, foster
relationships among NASA, other federal entities, and the private sector, and
advance science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education
through utilization of the space station's unique capabilities as a permanent
microgravity platform with exposure to the space environment.
Image Credit: NASA
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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