Cupola Observation Module installed on Node

A newly arrived observation platform known as cupola was positioned upon the Tranquility node this morning giving the crew aboard the International Space Station an out of this world view of the earth and beyond.

Astronauts Kay Hire and Terry Virts moved the station's 58-foot robotic arm over to and grappled cupola at 10:22 pm EST, on Sunday night. The grapple came later than planned following a few delays in depressurizing the domed structure.

A series of bolts would not release a half-hour later to allow for it's release. The crew worked with the ground to get those bolts unjammed.

Space station commander Jeffery Williams then called over to Hire and his crew, "We're go for cupola de-berth."

Once the bolts released the cupola from the end of newly installed Tranquility node, Hire began the nearly one hour short move at 12:25 am today to relocate cupola to the nadir side of Tanquility.

Sporting a thermal white jacket, the cupola was attached and firmly bolted down to its new port on the earth-facing side of Tranquility at 1:31 am. Four latches and then 16 bolts are used to secure this soon to be pressurized section to the node.

Endeavour's commander George Zamka radioed Mission Control today, "This is the payoff, it all went very smoothly today. The cupola's been an idea that's been around since the early '90s and we got it home".

The 1.6 ton cupola observation module is a pressurized work station in which station crew members will use to perform photography and studies of the earth. They will also use it to track approaching spacecrafts.

What exact does cupola mean? -- CUPOLA: noun: 1. Architecture a. A vaulted roof or ceiling. b. A small dome set on a circular or polygonal base or resting on pillars. c. A domelike structure surmounting a roof or dome, often used as a lookout or to admit light and air.

The cupola has six trapezoidal windows around its diameter, and one large 31 1/2-inch window on top. And like most homes here on earth, the cupola's windows do have shutters.

Prior to bed time, the space station crew will close the external shutters from inside the observation module. According to NASA, the "shutters are closed to protect the glass from micrometeoroids and orbital debris and to prevent solar radiation from heating up the Cupola or to avoid losing heat to space".

A Tuesday evening spacewalk will remove the seven protective insulation window covers from around cupola.

Astronauts connect support cables on Spacewalk

Two of space shuttle Endeavour's astronauts performed an orbital walk in space to connect support cables and hoses between the International Space Station and the newly installed Tranquility node.

Astronauts Robert Behnken and Nick Patrick began the second space walk of Endeavour's flight at 9:20 pm EST on Saturday night, and then departed the U.S. Quest airlock to begin over six hours of work.

The orbital duo went to work to begin routing avionics and supply cables from the Destiny laboratory to Tranquility node. Meanwhile, inside the new node, crews of the station and shuttle worked to begin powering up and testing electrical systems.

As Patrick performed work to open a cap on a quick disconnect valve, a small amount of ammonia was released in the direction of Patrick. At midnight EST, Behnken went over to inspect his partner's white spacesuit for any signs of ammonia (below). He was considered clean and the pair went back to work.

The Johnson Space Center informed this reporter tonight, "The astronauts will spend additional time in the airlock to allow for any possible flakes to be cleansed from their suits through the airlock environmental system".

Patrick and Behnken then began to wrap the hoses in protective insulation which will shield them from micrometeorites as the station complex speeds around earth at 17,250 mph.

At 12:55 am this morning, Behnken began opening the four valves to allow the ammonia to begin flowing from Destiny to the node.

They then transitioned over to the nadir, or earth-facing port, on Tranquility to prepare it for Sunday evening's placement of the newly arrived cupola dome from the end of Tranquility to this new location. They opened up four petals on the cover of the common berthing mechanism is support of the cupola's arrival.

Inside the station, the crews installed the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device -- a computer controlled software system which helps guide the astronaut through a specific exercise regiment during his six-month stay on the space station.

The ARED is Windows-based and the astronaut uses a touchscreen computer tablet to input what desired exercise he or she would like to perform. The data of the exercise and how well the astronaut does is then transmitted down to the medical staff at the Johnson Space Center south of Houston.

This new software could become useful here on earth such as in submarines and naval ships on long tours.

Also, NASA's Mission Management Team elected to keep Endeavour in space one extra day to ensure all the tasks are performed. Endeavour's six-person crew will assist the station's five member crew in relocating several key components inside station such as the Waste Hygiene Compartment and Oxygen Generation System into the Tranquility node.

Landing is now targeted for a night landing at the Kennedy Space Center next Sunday evening, February 21st.

Astronauts open newly install Tranquility Module

The hatches leading into a new living compartment on board the International Space Station was opened tonight providing the crew an expanded area to exercise and live as earth's orbital outpost sails toward 2020.

Space station commander Jeffery Williams opened the hatches leading from the Unity module into the newly installed Tranquility node at 9:17 pm EST, and floated in along with space shuttle Endeavour's commander George Zamka, as the station flew 217 miles high over the Pacific Ocean just east of Australia.

The Italian-built Tranquility will serve as a U.S. section of the station, and will be the final American section added to the now 98% completed outpost.

Two hours later, the crews opened the hatch between the tranquility and the cuploa dome section - currently located on the opposite end of Tranquility's docked port.

The cupola will be a wonderful segment for the station crews. It is a dome segment with seven windows providing a 360-degree field of the earth and the space around the orbital complex. This will allow astronauts to have views of approaching spacecraft, orbital observations of both the earth and star fields, and give them a truley out of this world view.

Currently, station crew members use small port windows which measure about a foot across.

As Endeavour hangs docked to the space station, the total weight of the complex is now 1,011,500 pounds -- passing the 1 million pound mark for the first time this week.

Also tonight, Endeavour's protective thermal tiles were cleared for landing.

NASA's Mission Management Team chairman LeRoy Cain stated tonight, "The team has completed their analyses. We determined that Endeavour is cleared for entry. All the TPS is cleared and the vehicle is safe for deorbit, re-entry and landing."

Later tonight, Endeavour astronauts Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick will begin preparing for the start of the second planned spacewalk. They first will prepare a new space suit for Patrick after it was noted that the cooling fan on his suit did not work properly during Thursday night's spacewalk.

Endeavour's crew of six docked last Wednesday at midnight EST to the station, and will carry out two more spacewalks and will reposition the cupola to a new location on later tonight so that it faces earth.

Endeavour's Kay Hire will use the station's long robotic arm to grapple and slowly lift the cupola section several feet to the middle section of Tranquility. This will provide crews an improved view for earth observations.

Pilot Terry Virts and mission specialist Stephen Robinson round out Endeavour's crew.

The crews will begin their sleep period later this morning at 7:44 am, and awake eight hours later to begin a busy spacewalking day.

Endeavour is expected to undock this Thursday evening at 7:35 pm.

Astronauts unite Tranquility with the Space Station

(Updated at 1:25 am) -- Astronauts aboard the International Space Station spent overnight Thursday delivering and docking a new module which will greatly expand the living quarters of the orbital outpost in space.

While two spacewalking astronauts untethered the Tranquility node module from the payload bay of Endeavour, the crew inside the station worked its robotic arm to slowly lift the module from the bay and transitioned over to the Unity module on the station.

Tranquility is a pressurized cylindrical module with an internal width of nearly 16-feet and a length of 23 feet. It will serve as expanded living quarters for the crew.

Astronauts Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick switched their space suits onto internal power thus beginning their spacewalk at 9:17 pm EST this evening. They then left the Quest airlock to begin the first of three planned spacewalks of the STS-130 mission.

At 11:10 pm EST, astronaut Kay Hire began first motion in removing the Tranquility node from Endeavour's payload bay. Slowly and carefully lifting the module up and out over the shuttle's wing, the arm carried it over toward the Unity.

By midnight, the spacewalkers were nearly one hour ahead of their time line.

An hour later, at 1:04 am, Hire announced that the first stage of latching four bolts of Tranquility into Unity's left side port was complete.

Meanwhile, as one end of Tranquility was bolted to the station, the other end had the cupola dome temporarily docked. The cupola is a seven-window dome section which will give the station crew an out of this world 360-degree view of our universe. The cupola will be attached to the side of Tranquility with the help of the station's robotic arm on Sunday night.

Then at 1:20 am, Hire announced that the second series of 16 bolts had completely secured Tranquility to Unity as the orbital complex flew 217 miles over the west coast of Singapore.

The next task was for Behnken and Patrick to begin installing power and avionics cables between Unity and the new module.

On Friday night at about 9:14 pm, the crews will open the hatches from Unity into Tranquility and set foot inside a cold, dark school bus size module. The crew will enter wearing a miners headlight for better visibility as the work to get lighting turned on.

Astronauts prepare for a dynamic spacewalk

The two crews aboard earth's orbital outpost will gear up for a busy day of spacewalks and space robotics as they bring a critical new module and a observation dome over from the space shuttle to a space station docking.

Endeavour, which docked to the International Space Station on Wednesday, brought up the Tranquility node and the cupola section in her payload bay. The Tranquility is a bus-size module which will provide living quarters and house the COLBERT treadmill. The cupola is a dome section which has seven windows providing a 360-degree out of this world view.

Both station and shuttle crew members were awoken at 4:14 pm EST this afternoon to kick-off a busy day which will see two astronauts perform a six and one-half hour orbital walk in support of the installation of Tranquility to the station.

Astronauts Nicholas Patrick and Bob Behnken will leave the space station's air lock and head to Endeavour's aft section of the payload bay. The will begin preparing Tranquility for it's removal using a 58-foot long station robotic arm.

The duo are scheduled to switch their pressure suits to internal power and head out of the Quest airlock at 9:09 pm (0209 GMT).

First, Patrick and Behnken will first remove a cover off an alignment camera on the station's Unity port in support of Tranquility's docking. They next will begin removing the covers off of seven windows which circle the dome-shaped cupola section in Endeavour's bay. At this point, the cupola is attached to the aft section of Tranquility.

The spacewalking duo will then disconnect umbilical cable between Tranquility and the orbiter which have provided power and life support to the node.

They will then turn their focus to the space station as they transition over and move a storage platform over to the P5 & P6 truss segment.

Shuttle crew member Kay Hire will then extend the station's arm out and grapple the Tranquility module, and slowly begin to rise it up and out of the bay. The 13.5 ton module with the cupola attached will be moved over to the Unity module for mating.

Once Tranquility had firmly docked, Patrick and Behnken will begin connecting avionics and

Once the Tranquility node is attached the space station (above on Tuesday night) the orbital complex will be 98% completed. There will be four more space shuttle flights after this mission which will see a new Russian segment, supplies and hardware to complete this beautiful human-made world in space.

Endeavour's Crew begins busy second day

The six person crew of the space shuttle Endeavour will focus on the careful inspection of the thermal tiles of the craft tonight to detirmin if ice or debris damaged any areas during launch this morning.

The crew awoke at 6:15 pm EST to the music of "Give Me Your Eyes" played for first time space flyer pilot Terry Virts.

Detailed launch video studies here at the Kennedy Space Center shows a nearly foot long section of insulation which broke free from the upper section of the shuttle's external fuel tank and might have hit the orbiter. Tonight's inspections will look to see if it was a strike.

NASA's 130th space shuttle mission lifted-off this morning at 4:14:08 am, beginning a 13 day mission to deliver new living quarters and a multi-window dome section which will support earth views and station operations.

Tonight, Endeavour's payload bay cameras showed beautiful views of the Italian-built Tranquility node in the mid section of the bay. (above image at 6:10 pm tonight)

Tranquility will serve as both sleeping quarters and gymnasium and provide extra storage of supplies brought up by unmanned cargo crafts.

Final Discovery Spacewalk set for Today

Two of the space shuttle Discovery's astronauts will head back outside of the international space station late today as they prepare the outpost for the February arrival of the final U.S. module, Tranquility.

Mission specialists Danny Olivas and Christer Fugelsang (European Space Agency) are scheduled to switch their suits on internal power and head out of the station's Quest airlock at 4:49 pm EDT. The spacewalk is planned to last six and one-half hours.

A few of the prime tasks planned for this evening will be the replacement of a rate gyro assembly which failed several months ago. The orbital duo will disconnect cables and each remove two attachment bolts apiece to remove the old gyro. They then will install a new gyro and then store the old one for it's return back to earth.

Next, Olivas will separate from Fugelsang and transition over to the PMA-3 and set up a few heater cables, with one of them connected to the Unity module and the others tied down on one of the module's handrails. The cables will be used to connect the module with the upcoming arrival of the Tranquility module.

Tranquility is a pressurized module which will have windows providing a 360-degree view of the space station, and provide living quarters for off-duty residents. Endeavour will bring Tranquility to the station in February.

As Olivas works with the heater cables, Fugelsang will work to replace an nonoperational power control module located at the center of the space station. The removal and installation will be a one bolt operation.

This will be the 133rd spacewalk devoted to the construction of the space station.

Node 3's name is... TRANQUILITY

Following one of the most hyped name-the-spacecraft contests sponsored by NASA since the Constitution/ Enterprise name switch in 1976, the name TRANQUILITY won out over the even bigger vote winner COLBERT, as former space station astronaut Suni Williams made the announcement tonight on the Comedy Central network.

The much watched Colbert Report show had host Stephen Colbert and Williams make the announcement at 11:47 pm EDT tonight. TRANQUILITY won out for its significance of the upcoming 40th anniversary of the first moon landing upon the Sea of Tranquility.

TRANQUILITY is a multi-window module which will support several windows, giving astronauts and cosmonauts both a 360-degree view of space. The new Node will launch no earlier than February 2010 aboard the Endeavour STS-130 mission.

Instead, NASA has named their new space station treadmill COLBERT or Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill. The new treadmill will launch in August, and later will be moved to the new Node once it arrives several months later. There station crew members can run in place for with an excellent view of the earth and space around them.

"We don't typically name U.S. space station hardware after living people and this is no exception," Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations stated today. "We have invited Stephen to Florida for the launch of COLBERT and to Houston to try out a version of the treadmill that astronauts train on."