The Habitation Module for the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

was intended to be the Station's main living quarters designed with

galley A galley is a type of ship optimised for propulsion by oars. Galleys were historically used for naval warfare, warfare, Maritime transport, trade, and piracy mostly in the seas surrounding Europe. It developed in the Mediterranean world during ...

toilet A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human waste (urine and feces) and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting p ...

, shower, sleep stations and medical facilities. About the size of a bus, the module was canceled after its pressurized hull was complete. If named and sent into space, the Habitation Module would have been berthed to ''

Tranquility Tranquillity (also spelled tranquility) is the quality or state of being tranquil; that is, calm, serene, and worry-free. The word tranquillity appears in numerous texts ranging from the religious writings of Buddhism—where the term refers to ...

''.

History

In order to accommodate more than three people on the ISS, a lifeboat craft other than a single Soyuz TMA would be needed and such a Crew Return Vehicle was not there at that time. Later in the project, budget constraints and delays to the space station due to the

Space Shuttle Columbia disaster On Saturday, February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disintegrated as it Atmospheric entry, re-entered the atmosphere over Texas and Louisiana, killing all seven astronauts on board. It was the second List of Spa ...

led to its cancellation. On 14 February 2006 it was decided to recycle the Habitation Module for ground-based Life Support Research for future missions. With the cancellation of the Habitation Module, sleeping places are now spread throughout the station. There are two in the Russian segment and four in the US segment. However, just like a hotel, it is not necessary to have a separate 'bunk' in space at all; many visitors just strap their sleeping bag to the wall of a module, get into it, and sleep. At various points in the design of the International Space Station, an inflatable TransHab module with several times the space of the initial design was considered as an alternative to the Habitation module. This concept is similar to the

Bigelow Expandable Activity Module The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is an experimental inflatable space habitat, expandable International Space Station#Pressurised modules, space station module developed by Bigelow Aerospace, under contract to NASA, for testing as a ...

, which was brought to the ISS in May 2016 by a

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

cargo spacecraft to test the concept. Some engineers in Britain have also proposed a Habitation Extension Module which could be attached to Node 3.

References

* {{ISS modules Cancelled spacecraft Components of the International Space Station

History

See also

References