Harmony Module Doubled Station's Interior Space in 2007

Space shuttle Discovery lifted off on Oct. 23, 2007 carrying Harmony, a utility hub that doubled the International Space Station's interior volume from roughly a three-bedroom house to about a five-bedroom house. The 24-foot-long module, about the length of a minibus, arrived under the STS-120 mission.

Harmony connects the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory and Japan's Kibo laboratory, and it houses sleeping quarters for American astronauts. Built for NASA by Thales Alenia Space of Italy, the module carries five common berthing mechanisms that serve as connection points for other station components. Its interior holds eight payload racks: four for avionics and four for stowage or crew quarters. NASA ran a public naming contest that produced the name Harmony; the module was previously known as Node 2.

The module was first bolted temporarily to the Unity node after Discovery's departure. Crews then used the station's robotic arm to move the shuttle docking port away from the Destiny module, clearing the way for Harmony to be berthed permanently next to Destiny. From that position it links Europe's Columbus lab on the starboard side and Japan's Kibo lab on the port side. Some berthing mechanisms have served visiting cargo ships, and a port on the module's roof lets visiting vehicles dock there.

Before Harmony, the most recent addition to the station's interior was Russia's Pirs docking module in 2001, which has since been discarded. Harmony became the second NASA-led hub module for the station, after Unity, also called Node 1.

After the roughly two-week STS-120 flight, crews relocated Harmony from its temporary berth at Unity to the forward port of NASA's Destiny laboratory. NASA's astronaut sleeping quarters are located inside the module.