Harmony (ISS module)

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Harmony
Node 2 - STS-134.jpg
Harmony shown connected to Columbus , Kibō , and Destiny . PMA-2 faces towards the camera. The nadir and zenith locations are open.
Module statistics
Part of International Space Station
Launch date October 23, 2007, 15:38:19  UTC [1]
Launch vehicle Space Shuttle Discovery
Berthed October 26, 2007 (Destiny  forward)
Mass 14,300 kg (31,500 lb)
Length7.2 m (24 ft)
Diameter4.4 m (14 ft)
Pressurized volume 70 m3 (2,500 cu ft)
References: [2]
Configuration
Harmony detail.jpg
Graphic showing the six CBMs on Harmony

Harmony, also known as Node 2, is a module of the International Space Station (ISS) that serves as its "utility hub". It connects the laboratory modules of the United States, Europe and Japan, while also providing electrical power and data. The module also has sleeping cabins for four astronauts. [3]

Contents

Harmony has six Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) ports. It is attached to the Destiny laboratory at its aft port, with Columbus to starboard and Kibō to port. Its forward and zenith ports are each equipped with a Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA) and International Docking Adapter (IDA) for docking visiting spacecraft. The nadir CBM, the only one without permanently mounted equipment, is typically used for berthing cargo spacecraft.

Harmony was launched aboard STS-120 on October 23, 2007. [4] [5] It was first attached temporarily to the port side of the Unity module [6] [7] before being moved to its permanent location on the forward end of Destiny on November 14, 2007. [8] The module added 70 m3 (2,500 cu ft) of habitable volume to the station, increasing its living space by nearly 20%, from 420 m3 (15,000 cu ft) to 490 m3 (17,000 cu ft). Its installation marked what NASA termed "U.S. Core Complete".

Origin of name

Interior of Harmony Interior of Harmony Node.jpg
Interior of Harmony

The unit formerly known as Node 2 was renamed Harmony in March 2004. [9] The name was chosen in a competition where more than 2,200 students from 32 states participated. [10] [11] 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, which will serve as a central hub for science labs. The six winning classes were: Paul Cummins' 8th grade class at Browne Academy, Alexandria, Va.; Mrs.Sue Wilson's 3rd grade class at Buchanan Elementary School, Baton Rouge, La.; Brigette Berry's 8th grade class at League City Intermediate School, League City, Texas; Bradley Neu's 9th grade science class at Lubbock High School, Lubbock, Texas; Russell Yocum 's 3rd grade class at West Navarre Intermediate School, Navarre, Fla.; and, David Dexheimer's students at the World Group Home School, Monona, Wisconsin. [12]

Specifications

Crew members hanging out of the USOS crew quarters ISS-27 American crew quarters.jpg
Crew members hanging out of the USOS crew quarters
Harmony during assembly at the Space Station Processing Facility ISS Node 2 module.jpg
Harmony during assembly at the Space Station Processing Facility

Harmony is the second of three node modules on the United States Orbital Segment (USOS). [13] It is composed of a cylindrical, 5.1 cm (2.0 in) thick 2219-T851 aluminium alloy pressure shell with two endcones and is thermally insulated by a goldised Kapton blanket. It is protected from micrometeoroids by 98 panels, each made from a composite sandwich of stainless steel and 6061-T6 aluminium alloy, and a secondary barrier of Kevlar/resin. [14] [15] The design is based on the existing Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, as well as the European Space Agency's Columbus module (both of which have only one passive Common Berthing Mechanism [CBM]). [13] There are six CBMs on Harmony: the aft CBM that connects it to Destiny is passive; the rest are active. [16]

Harmony is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Its deployment expanded the Space Station, allowing it to grow from the size of a three-bedroom house, to the space equivalent of a typical five-bedroom house, once the Japanese Kibō and European Columbus laboratories are attached. The Space Station robotic arm, Canadarm2, is able to operate from a powered grapple fixture on the exterior of Harmony. [17] Harmony is equipped with eight International Standard Payload Racks: four avionics racks and four for stowage or crew quarters. [15] The first two were delivered on STS-126 and the second two on STS-128. [18] [19] After the cancellation of the Habitation Module, Harmony was chosen to house the American Crew Quarters. [20] [21]

Construction agreement

In an agreement between NASA and the European Space Agency, the company Thales Alenia Space, built Harmony at its facility in Turin, Italy. [17] Harmony arrived on June 1, 2003, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after its flight in an Airbus Beluga oversize cargo vehicle. Following post transportation inspection, the Italian Space Agency (ASI) formally handed over Harmony to the European Space Agency (ESA). From there, ESA formally transferred ownership of Harmony to NASA on June 18, 2003, taking place in the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) of the Kennedy Space Center. [22] The handover of Harmony completed a major element of the barter agreement, between ESA and NASA, that was signed in Turin, Italy on October 8, 1997. [22]

Paolo Nespoli, an ESA astronaut born in Milan, Italy, accompanied the Harmony module aboard STS-120 as a mission specialist.

Launch

Harmony was launched on October 23, 2007, aboard of the STS-120, as the primary component of assembly mission ISS-10A. [23] [24] [25]

On October 26, 2007, the station's Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) removed Harmony from the shuttle cargo bay and temporarily mated it to the port side of Unity and, on October 27, 2007, the crew entered in Harmony. [6] [26] After the Space Shuttle departed, Harmony was relocated to the forward dock of the Destiny laboratory. It required three EVAs by the station crew to complete the installation. [26] [27]

Connecting modules and visiting vehicles

Harmony inside the payload bay of Space Shuttle Discovery while on its way to the ISS. Harmony node in Space Shuttle Discovery's payload bay.jpg
Harmony inside the payload bay of Space Shuttle Discovery while on its way to the ISS.

Harmony was the first permanent living space enlargement to the ISS after the Pirs docking compartment was added in 2001. The Expedition 16 crew moved the Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA-2) on November 12, 2007, from Destiny to the forward berth of Harmony. The combined PMA-2/Harmony unit was subsequently berthed to its final destination at the forward end of Destiny on November 14, 2007. [8] All the following Space Shuttle missions would dock at this location.

On February 11, 2008, ESA's Columbus laboratory was attached to the starboard hatch of the Harmony module during space shuttle mission STS-122. On March 14, 2008, the Experiment Logistics Module Pressurized Section (ELM-PS) of Kibō was attached to its interim location: the zenith hatch of Harmony. During STS-124, a Space Shuttle mission flown by Space Shuttle Discovery, the Pressurized Module of Kibō was added to the port side of Harmony and the ELM-PS was moved, leaving the zenith hatch empty. The zenith hatch was originally intended to be the permanent docking connector for the now canceled Centrifuge Accommodations Module (CAM).

When the Space Shuttle flew the Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules (MPLMs) to the station, the MPLM would be temporarily berthed to the nadir mechanism of Harmony. [28] The Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle and the American Commercial Resupply Service (COTS) vehicles, Dragon and Cygnus, are temporarily berthed to either the nadir or zenith mechanism.

In August 2016, the forward docking port was equipped with the International Docking Adapter (IDA) delivered with the CRS-9 mission. This adapter was used for the first time for the automatic docking of the Crew Dragon spacecraft during its uncrewed test mission on March 3, 2019. [29]

On March 26, 2017, PMA-3 was robotically removed from the Tranquility module and attached to the zenith port of the Harmony module after being prepared during a successful spacewalk on March 24, 2017. A second spacewalk was conducted on March 30, 2017, to finalize the PMA-3 cable connections on Harmony. PMA-3 is linked to the International Docking Adapter-3 adapter, delivered on the SpaceX CRS-18 mission in July 2019. [30] IDA-3 was fully linked to PMA-3 during an EVA on August 21, 2019. [31]

References

  1. ↑ "Launch Log". Jonathan's Space Report. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Harmony module". NASA. November 14, 2018. Retrieved January 30, 2021.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ↑ Sunita Williams (presenter), Corrado Mazzola (project manager) (May 19, 2005). Station Tour: Harmony, Tranquility, Unity (video). NASA. Event occurs at 0.06-0.35. Retrieved January 30, 2021. So this is Node 2 ... this is where four out of six of us sleep.
  4. ↑ "STS-120 MCC Status Report #01". NASA. October 23, 2007. Archived from the original on October 28, 2007. Retrieved January 30, 2021.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  5. ↑ John Johnson Jr. (October 24, 2007). "Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  6. 1 2 William Harwood (2007). "Harmony module pulled from cargo bay". CBS News. Retrieved October 26, 2007.
  7. ↑ John Schwartz (October 26, 2007). "New Room Added to Space Station". The New York Times. Retrieved October 26, 2007.
  8. 1 2 "PMA-3 Relocation". NASA. 2007. Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved September 28, 2007.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  9. ↑ "NASA Space Station Module In Perfect "Harmony" With New Name". NASA. 2007. Retrieved September 28, 2007.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  10. ↑ European Space Agency (2007). "Node 2: Connecting Module". ESA . Retrieved September 28, 2007.
  11. ↑ Tariq Malik (2007). SPACE.com (ed.). "Students Name Next U.S. Space Station Module 'Harmony'". Space.com . Retrieved September 28, 2007.
  12. ↑ "NASA Space Station Module In Perfect 'Harmony' With New Name". Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 17, 2022.
  13. 1 2 European Space Agency (2007). "Node 2: Connecting Module". ESA. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  14. ↑ "STS-120 Press Kit" (PDF). NASA. October 2007. p. 33. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 4, 2021. Retrieved January 23, 2020.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  15. 1 2 "Node-2 Harmony Factsheet" (PDF). ESA. pp. 4–5. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  16. ↑ "ISS Interface Mechanisms and their Heritage" (PDF). NASA. p. 23. Retrieved November 4, 2011.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  17. 1 2 "Space Station Assembly: Harmony Node 2". NASA. 2007. Archived from the original on December 26, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2007.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  18. ↑ "STS-126 Press Kit" (PDF). NASA. November 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 9, 2008. Retrieved September 26, 2011.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  19. ↑ "STS-128 Press Kit" (PDF). NASA. August 2009. Retrieved September 26, 2011.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  20. ↑ "At Home with Commander Scott Kelly (Video)". International Space Station: NASA. December 6, 2010. Retrieved May 8, 2011.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  21. ↑ Broyan, James Lee; Borrego, Melissa Ann; Bahr, Juergen F. (January 1, 2008). "International Space Station USOS Crew Quarters Development". SAE International. Retrieved November 2, 2022.
  22. 1 2 "European Node officially handed to NASA". ESA. 2003. Retrieved September 28, 2007.
  23. ↑ "STS-120 to Deliver Harmony Node to ISS". NASA. 2007. Archived from the original on June 3, 2017. Retrieved September 28, 2007.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  24. ↑ "STS-120 Bringing Space Station 'Harmony'". NASA. 2007. Retrieved September 28, 2004.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  25. ↑ "Launch Schedule: Consolidated Launch Manifest". NASA. 2007. Archived from the original on March 7, 2009. Retrieved September 28, 2007.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  26. 1 2 William Harwood for CBS News (2007). "Astronauts enter Harmony". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved October 27, 2007.
  27. ↑ "Upcoming Shuttle Missions and ARISS Operations". Victor Amateur Radio Association. 2007. Retrieved September 28, 2007.
  28. ↑ "Space Station User's Guide: ISS Elements: Node 2". SpaceRef.com. 2007. Archived from the original on December 16, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2007.
  29. ↑ "NASA, SpaceX Launch First Flight Test of Space System Designed for Crew". nasa.gov. NASA. March 2, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2019.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  30. ↑ Gebhardt, Chris (July 27, 2019). "CRS-18 Dragon arrives at the ISS following Falcon 9 launch" . Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  31. ↑ Bergin, Chris; Harding, Pete (August 21, 2019). "EVA-55 installs second IDA to allow for additional commercial crew vehicle options". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
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