Harmony Module (Node 2) is a pressurized module which will serve
as a connecting passage between the European Columbus laboratory, the US
laboratory Destiny and the Japanese laboratory Kibo and cargo spacecraft at the
International Space Station.
Node 2 also provides a docking port for the Space Shuttle and
the Japanese HII transfer vehicle, whilst it also serves as an attachment point
for the Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules (MPLM). Node 2 is designed to be a
working base point for the Space Station robotic arm, Canadarm 2.
Harmony is a utility hub, providing air, electrical power, water
and other systems essential to support life on the station. It will distribute
resources from the station’s truss to the Destiny lab and, when added to the
station, to the European Space Agency’s
Columbus Research
Laboratory and the
Japanese Experiment Module (Kibo). In addition to increasing the living and
working space inside the station, its exterior will also serve as a work
platform for the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2. Harmony is similar in shape
to the six sided
Unity module, known also as Node 1, launched in 1998.
Harmony connecting module was delivered to the International
Space Station inside Space Shuttle Discovery’s payload bay during Space Shuttle
flight STS-120
mission, also known as Assembly Flight 10A. STS120 was launched on October 23,
2007.
Harmony Module (Node 2) was developed for NASA under an ESA
contract with European industry, with Alcatel-Alenia Space in Italy as the prime
contractor. Responsibility for Node 2 development was assigned to the Italian
space agency, ASI. The structural design is based on that of the MPLM and the
European Columbus laboratory.
Naming the Module
NASA held a competition amongst schoolchildren in the United
States to find a name for the Node 2 module. On 15 March 2007 the new name
Harmony was announced. Node 2 received its name during an academic competition
involving more than 2,200 students from 32 states.
Six different schools submitted "Harmony." A panel of NASA
educators, engineers, scientists and senior agency management selected the name
because it symbolizes the spirit of international cooperation embodied by the
station, as well as the module's specific role in connecting the international
partner modules.
The Node 2 Challenge required students to learn about the space
station, build a scale model and write an essay explaining their proposed name
for the module that will serve as a central hub for science labs. Harmony is the
first U.S. piece of the space station named by people outside of NASA.
Specs:
Length: 7.2 meters (23.6 feet)
Width: 4.4 meters (14.5 feet)
Mass: 14,288 kilograms (31,500 pounds)
Exterior: aluminum cylindrical sections,
Number of racks: 8 Pressurized Volume: 75.5 cubic meters
(2,666 cubic feet) Habitable Volume: 1,230 cubic feet
Did you know?
* Harmony (Node 2) is the first pressurized
module added to the station since the Russian Pirs Docking Compartment was added
in September 2001. Harmony joins three other named U.S. modules on the station:
the Destiny laboratory, the Quest airlock and the Unity node.
* As of December 2007, the most recent U.S.
pressurized module added to the International Space Station was the Quest
airlock in July 2001.
