Shuttle Discovery doubled station living space in 2007
The delivery of the Harmony node transformed the orbiting outpost from the size of a three-bedroom home into that of a five-bedroom house.
By Ivan Dvorak ·
The International Space Station gained roughly the size of a two-bedroom house in interior volume when the Harmony module arrived in October 2007. Before this delivery, the orbiting complex was comparable to a three-bedroom house. After the installation, the total living space expanded to match that of a five-bedroom house.
Space shuttle Discovery launched on October 23, 2007, to carry the new module. This marked the final time the United States delivered a major new pressurized component to the station before a gap in construction. The previous addition had been Russia's Pirs docking module, which arrived in 2001 and has since been jettisoned.
Harmony is a 14-foot wide by 24-foot long utility hub. It measures approximately the length of a minibus. Built by Italy-based Thales Alenia Space for NASA, the module was originally designated as Node 2. It serves as the second major hub for the station, following Unity, or Node 1. The name was selected through a public contest organized by NASA.
Upon arrival, astronauts attached Harmony temporarily to the Unity node. After the shuttle departed on the roughly two-week STS-120 mission, the crew used the station's robotic arm to move the shuttle docking port at the Destiny laboratory. This maneuver cleared the path for Harmony to be berthed at its permanent location beside Destiny.
The module houses the sleeping quarters for American astronauts. It contains eight payload racks, with four dedicated to avionics and four used for storage or crew living space. Harmony features five common berthing mechanisms that act as connection points for other components.
From its permanent position, Harmony links to Europe's Columbus laboratory on the starboard side and Japan's Kibo laboratory on the port side. Some of its ports accommodate visiting cargo ships, while a port on the roof allows visiting vehicles to dock. The installation created a central hub that facilitated the integration of international laboratories into the station's structure.
