A NASA press release today confirms plans managers have discussed for months to add a last module to the International Space Station's U.S. segment. Endeavour's recent flight added what was billed as the last major addition of U.S. living space, the Tranquility module and its attached cupola observation deck.
Tranquility measures 23.6 feet long and 14.5 feet in diameter, and with the cupola weighed 16.5 tons at launch. NASA said it left the station 98 percent complete by volume and 90 percent complete by weight.
The Italian-built Leonardo cargo module -- technically called a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, or MPLM -- is a comparable size at 21 feet in length and 15 feet in diameter, and weighs five tons empty.
The plan is to leave it attached to the station on the last shuttle mission, to be flown by Discovery in September. NASA says experiments may be conducted inside the renamed a "Permanent Multipurpose Module," or PMM, whose extra volume will "enable efficient positioning of experiments throughout the station complex."
Discovery is slated to fly Leonardo on the next shuttle flight, targeted for launch April 5.
The Italian Space Agency built three MPLMs named for great engineers, inventors and artists: Leonardo, Donatello and Raffaello.
The cylindrical modules can carry 15,000 pounds of science experiments, supplies and spare parts and have flown nine times since 2001. Modifications will be made to Leonardo to increase the mass it can carry and harden it for a long-term stay on the station. Costs for the modifications were not immediately available.
IMAGES: In the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, packing of the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo continues for its upcoming flight, targeted for April 5 aboard Discovery. Photo credit: NASA/Amanda Diller
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