250px, ISS Habitation module under construction in December 1997
The Habitation Module was a particular
habitation module for the
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...
was intended to be the Station's main living quarters
designed with
galley
A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be u ...
,
toilet
A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human 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 position popu ...
, 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''.
History
In order to accommodate more than three people on the ISS, a lifeboat craft other than a single
Soyuz TMA Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз (Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...
would be needed and such a
Crew Return Vehicle
The Crew Return Vehicle (CRV), sometimes referred to as the Assured Crew Return Vehicle (ACRV), was a proposed dedicated lifeboat or escape module for the International Space Station (ISS). A number of different vehicles and designs were consider ...
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
The Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster was a fatal accident in the United States space program that occurred on February 1, 2003. During the STS-107 mission, Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disintegrated as it reentered the atmosphere over Te ...
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 expandable space station module developed by Bigelow Aerospace, under contract to NASA, for testing as a temporary module on the International Space Station (ISS) from 2016 to ...
, which was brought to the ISS in May 2016 by a
Dragon
A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted a ...
cargo spacecraft to test the concept. Some engineers in Britain have also proposed a
Habitation Extension Module which could be attached to
Node 3.
See also
*
Habitation Extension Module - proposed ISS module
*
Zvezda - base crew module of the ISS
References
*
*
External links
International Space Station
{{ISS modules
Components of the International Space Station
Cancelled spacecraft
