HARMONY MODULE

'''Harmony''' (previously known as 'Node 2') is the "utility hub" of the International Space Station, containing four racks that provide electrical power and data and acting as a central connecting point for several other components via its six CBMs. Once ''Harmony'' has been installed, NASA will deem the station to be "U.S. Core Complete." This work is scheduled to be finished in 2007.
Node 2 was named ''Harmony'' in March 2007.^[1] The name was chosen from an academic competition involving more than 2,200 kindergarten through high school students from 32 states. 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.
Weighing approximately 30,000 pounds (13,600 kg), ''Harmony'' is the second of three connectors between the major ISS modules. ''Harmony'' is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Its deployment will help make the Space Station roomier, allowing it to expand 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, can operate from a powered grapple fixture on the exterior of ''Harmony.''^[2] The node measures in length and has a diameter of .

Contents

Agreement

Launch

Connecting modules

Notes

External links

Agreement

In an agreement between NASA and the European Space Agency, Italian company Alcatel Alenia Space, based in Rome, built ''Harmony'' at its facility in Turin, Italy.^[3] ''Harmony'' arrived on June 1, 2003 at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida after its flight in an Airbus Beluga oversize cargo vehicle. Following post transportation inspection, the Italian Space Agency 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 of the Kennedy Space Center. ^[4] The handover of ''Harmony'' completed a major element of the barter agreement between ESA and NASA signed in Turin on October 8, 1997. ^[5]
Paolo A. Nespoli, an ESA astronaut born in Milan, Italy, will accompany the ''Harmony'' module aboard STS-120 as a mission specialist.

Launch

''Harmony'' is scheduled to be launched October 23, 2007 aboard STS-120,
as the primary component of assembly mission ISS-10A.
The SSRMS will remove ''Harmony'' from the shuttle cargo bay
and temporarily attach it to the port dock of Unity.
After the Space Shuttle departs, three EVAs by the station crew will relocate Harmony to the forward dock of Destiny.^[6][7]
The Pressurized Mating Adapter which currently occupies Destiny's forward berth, PMA-2, will be moved to the forward berth of ''Harmony'' .

Connecting modules

After its arrival at the station, ''Harmony'' will be connected to the forward hatch of Destiny. Later, ESA's Columbus laboratory will be attached to the starboard hatch of the ''Harmony'' module.
Later still, the Japanese Kibo laboratory will be attached to the port hatch of ''Harmony'' .
The Multipurpose Logistics Modules will also be attached to the nadir port of Harmony when they are flown.^[8]

Notes

1.
NASA Space Station Module In Perfect ‘Harmony’ With New Name

2.
Elements: U.S. Node 2

3. this text is ignored
4. European Node officially handed to NASA
5. European Node officially handed to NASA
6. Upcoming Shuttle Missions & ARISS Operations
7. Launch Schedule NASA
8.
ISS Elements: Node 2

External links

★ Node 2 specifications from ESA

★ STS 120 TO Deliver Harmony Node to ISS