The gigantic bay window is part of a 23-foot new extension named Tranquility – the last major component in a $400 million home improvement project that has spanned more than a decade at the space station. The node was made in Italy and named for the site where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first landed on the moon in 1969. Eventually it will be outfitted as a second living area for the space station's crew, complete with a toilet, oxygen generator, water recycling system and exercise equipment. Astronauts spend six months on the orbiting outpost at a time.
NASA / AP
Astronauts opened the International Space Station's new observation deck on Wednesday. This is a view of the Sahara Desert snapped by astronaut Soichi Noguchi.
They cranked back shutters on each of Tranquility's seven windows this morning as two colleagues floated in space outside, ready to help if anything went awry. "Great job raising the curtains on the bay window to the world," astronaut Kay Hire called out to the spacewalkers. "I look forward to the view from inside," Nicholas Patrick radioed in response.
The new dome is five feet tall and 10 feet in diameter, with six trapezoid-shaped windows surrounding a huge circular one in the middle. Altogether they offer sweeping 360-degree views of Earth, space and the station itself.
"I don't think space station's ever going to be the same after this," Mission Control said in a congratulatory call. It set the mood by beaming up a recording of Jimmy Buffett's song "Window on the World."
The crew will normally be able to keep the round window's shutters open most of the time, but windows facing in the direction the orbiting station is moving will have to be covered to protect them from collisions with small meteorites. The windows are made of specially-treated glass to shield the occupants from solar radiation.
Astronauts at the space station's controls opened and closed the shutters several times to make sure the latches worked, and cautioned their spacewalking colleagues to stand – or float – clear while the mechanisms moved. The two spacewalkers, Patrick and Robert Behnken, also performed other chores like opening valves on an ammonia coolant line they'd previously installed on Tranquility.
Today's six-hour spacewalk ended a bit earlier than planned because of elevated carbon dioxide levels in Behnken's spacesuit. He was fine, but Mission Control decided not to take any chances.
The 18-ton Tranquility was carried into space last week by the Shuttle Endeavor, and hoisted into place on Friday. Over the weekend, astronauts did two spacewalks to connect cooling and electrical systems. A robotic work station is scheduled to be set up inside the new observation deck tomorrow, so that astronauts will be able to watch and control the station's giant mechanical arm from behind the windows.
After that, the Shuttle Endeavor and six astronauts are scheduled to leave the space station Friday and land back in Florida two days later. Another shuttle, Discovery, had been scheduled to blast off in mid-March to carry spare parts to the space station, but its flight has already been delayed because of cold weather that's stalled preparations. It's now expected to launch in early April. The shuttle flight is expected to be retired by the end of the year.
After the shuttle missions end, travel to the space station will rely on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
The International Space Station is a $100 billion project by 16 countries. It's been in orbit and under construction since 1998.
