Animation of ISS module relocation activity.
Credits: NASA
Before broadcasting the final movements and installation, NASA TV
will replay the operations conducted earlier in the day to detach the
PMM from Unity and move it toward Tranquility.
Expedition 43 Commander Terry Virts and Flight Engineer Scott Kelly
of NASA will supervise the unbolting of the module from Unity and its
final attachment to Tranquility. Virts and Kelly will close the hatch to
the module on Tuesday, May 26, and reopen it at its new location on
Thursday, May 28.
The transformation of Harmony’s space-facing and forward ports for
crew arrivals will continue later this year, when a pair of
International Docking Adapters (IDAs) will be delivered on the seventh
and ninth NASA-contracted SpaceX cargo resupply missions. The IDAs will
be attached to Pressurized Mating Adapters 2 and 3, which enable the
spacecraft to equalize internal pressure with the ISS.
The PMM, originally named “Leonardo” by the Italian Space Agency that
supervised its manufacture, was one of three cargo modules used to haul
supplies back and forth from the station during space shuttle assembly
missions. The PMM was launched for the last time to the station on the
final flight of the shuttle Discovery on Feb. 24, 2011, and was
installed on Unity five days later. The PMM is 22 feet long, 14 feet in
diameter and weighs almost 11 tons. It has an internal volume of more
than 2,400 cubic feet.
This illustration shows the current location (blue)
of the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) on the International Space
Station and the location to which it will be repositioned (green) during
the May 27 move.
Credits: NASA
The International Space Station Program will take the next step in
expanding a robust commercial market in low-Earth orbit when work
continues Wednesday, May 27, to prepare the orbiting laboratory for the
future arrival of U.S. commercial crew and cargo vehicles. NASA
Television will provide live coverage of the activity beginning at 8
a.m. EDT.
NASA is in the process of reconfiguring the station to create primary and back up docking ports for U.S. commercial crew spacecraft
currently in development by Boeing and SpaceX to once again transport
astronauts from U.S. soil to the space station and back beginning in
2017. The primary and backup docking ports also will be reconfigured for
U.S. commercial spacecraft delivering research, supplies and cargo for
the crew.
On Wednesday, robotics flight controllers at the Mission Control
Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston will detach the large
Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM), used as a supply depot on the
orbital laboratory, from the Earth-facing port of the Unity module and
robotically relocate it to the forward port of the Tranquility module.
This move will clear the Unity port for its conversion into the spare
berthing location for U.S. cargo spacecraft; the Earth-facing port on
Harmony is the primary docking location. Harmony’s space-facing port
currently is the spare berthing location for cargo vehicles, so this
move frees that location to be used in conjunction with Harmony’s
forward port as the arrival locations for commercial crew spacecraft.
Before broadcasting the final movements and installation, NASA TV
will replay the operations conducted earlier in the day to detach the
PMM from Unity and move it toward Tranquility.
Expedition 43 Commander Terry Virts and Flight Engineer Scott Kelly
of NASA will supervise the unbolting of the module from Unity and its
final attachment to Tranquility. Virts and Kelly will close the hatch to
the module on Tuesday, May 26, and reopen it at its new location on
Thursday, May 28.
The transformation of Harmony’s space-facing and forward ports for
crew arrivals will continue later this year, when a pair of
International Docking Adapters (IDAs) will be delivered on the seventh
and ninth NASA-contracted SpaceX cargo resupply missions. The IDAs will
be attached to Pressurized Mating Adapters 2 and 3, which enable the
spacecraft to equalize internal pressure with the ISS.
The PMM, originally named “Leonardo” by the Italian Space Agency that
supervised its manufacture, was one of three cargo modules used to haul
supplies back and forth from the station during space shuttle assembly
missions. The PMM was launched for the last time to the station on the
final flight of the shuttle Discovery on Feb. 24, 2011, and was
installed on Unity five days later. The PMM is 22 feet long, 14 feet in
diameter and weighs almost 11 tons. It has an internal volume of more
than 2,400 cubic feet.
For more information about the International Space Station, visit:
For more information about the Commercial Crew Program, visit:
-end-
Stephanie Schierholz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov
Dan Huot
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
daniel.g.huot@nasa.gov
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov
Dan Huot
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
daniel.g.huot@nasa.gov
Last Updated: May 24, 2015
Editor: Karen Northon
Tags: Commercial Crew, Expedition 43
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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