Astronauts set up Tranquility module on International Space Station

Astronauts have set up a new room on the International Space Station (ISS). The work of installing the room took over 6 hours of spacewalk by astronauts and also efforts by robots.

We have a few photos of the Tranquility Module here for you. Photos taken from within the module are expected to be released by NASA, so we will update this page with a few when we get our hands on them.

Photo: Tranquility Module (Node 3) for ISS at the end of the robot arm

To attach the node, called Tranquility, made in Italy, to the outside of the International Space Station, spacewalking astronauts Nicholas Patrick and Bob Behnken first prepared Tranquility to be taken off the storage area of the space shuttle Endeavour, which had successfully docked with the space station early on February 10, 2010.

Photo: Tranquility module (Node 3 being prepared for attachment to the International Space Station (ISS)

Then astronauts Kay Hire and Terry Virts, who were inside the International Space Station, used a robotic arm to lift Tranquility out and attach it to the outside of the International Space Station.

Afterwards, the astronauts connected cables between Tranquility and the space station – thus making the orbiting space laboratory about 90% complete. Next, the hatch between the Tranquility node and the rest of the International Space Station will be opened, and the Tranquility’s hook-up with the ISS station is set for 0209 hours GMT on February 14, 2010.

Photo: Tranquility Module being loaded on the ground

The new room – the Tranquility node – will give the permanent crew of the International Space Station with more space, environmental control systems, and “house-life” support, a statement from the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said.

According to the NASA, the most anticipated part of the Tranquility node is the ‘cupola’ which it will attach to the space station.

The 6-windowed Tranquility allows the astronauts to operate robotic controls as well as get a 360-degree view – like the view that a crane operator in a cabin gets. This view will enable the crew to conduct scientific observations as well as give the long-term astronauts “a much-need glimpse of home,” the NASA said.

Tranquility, the biggest window ever taken into space, is made of specially equipped glass which shields the astronauts in the space station from solar radiation.

The International Space Station, a project involving 16 countries, was assembled at an altitude of 354 kilometres above the Earth.

Tranquility, the final piece to be attached to the space station, will act as a sort of ‘living quarters’ and contains an oxygen generator and a water-recycling system.

There will be 4 more missions to the International Space Station before the NASA “retires” its shuttle fleet at the end of 2010.