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“Let there be light! Cupola windows open toward Sahara desert. Priceless!” Tweeted ISS astronaut Soichi Noguchi from the ISS.
It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: the opening on the windows of the new Cupola on the International Space Station. And it was incredible.
“As expected, the view through window seven is absolutely spectacular,” ISS commander Jeff Williams said. “When we have the others around it open, it will give us a view of the entire globe. Absolutely incredible.”
The new $27 million bay window was uncovered during the third EVA of the STS-130 mission by spacewalkers Nick Patrick and Bob Behnken, who removed the protective launch covers and bolts. Then, from the inside, each of the seven shutters was cranked opened and closed one at a time, to test the view — and the shutters. In case there were any problems, the astronauts out on EVA could help close the shutters.
Later, all the shutters were opened at once for the full view. “I don’t think space station’s ever going to be the same after this,” Mission Control radioed to the ISS.
The new observation deck will allow astronauts unprecedented 360-degree views of Earth and space, while providing a new location for robotic operations where astronauts inside the ISS can actually watch directly what they doing with the CanadArm2 on the ISS, instead of completely relying on computer inputs and camera views. The Cupola is attached to the nadir, or Earth–facing port of the new Tranquility node, a $380 million addition to the station that was delivered to the ISS on the current space shuttle mission.
Built by the Italian space agency, the Cupola is 1.5 meters (5 feet) tall and about 3 meters (10 feet) in diameter. Six rectangular windows encircle the dome, with a large circular window in the middle.
Mission managers said at a press conference last week that the windows will remain shuttered most of the time to protect the 4-pane fused silica glass from micrometeroid strikes. The large central window shutter may be allowed to opened more frequently since it is facing towards Earth and away from potential incoming space debris.
A model of the Cupola was set up at the press room at Kennedy Space Center. I asked about the windows and the potential of problems if they are hit by micrometeroids, and was told that if the windows are dinged or significantly damaged, they can be repaired or replaced on orbit. There are spare window assemblies built, but they aren’t currently on the ISS nor are there plans to bring them up, for now. For minor damage, the shutters would be closed until the repairs could be done. For major damage, the Cupola has a hatch, so there is the potential to close off Cupola, but mission managers said that option has a very low likelihood of occurring.
Nice! Looks like something out of Star Wars, I like it.
Jerry
http://www.privacy-tools.de.tc
Where are the gun barrels?
Yesterday I have read Jeff Volosin’s article “Some Thoughts on the NASA Vision” on spaceref.com where he makes some very harsh remarks about human spaceflight in general the ISS in special. Even though I found it very interesting what he suggested in section 3) “For those who have a passion for the human explorer” and 4) “Along with this new mission for humans in space”, I was disappointed, that he described the ISS as a continuation of “the game plan that Dr. von Braun and his colleagues designed … beating those darned communists”. And despite he nowhere questioned the communists’ own ISS – the MIR – among many many other discrepancies, I somehow was influenced by the thought of the ISS being a big mistake …
until I today read this article in universetoday!
Because this article here deals with sensation. And Volosin declared the ISS to one of those collective sience fiction childhood dreams that we can’t let go of.
And suddenly I understood that the overwhelming panoramic view was always a vital point of our childhood dreams. and the ISS missed this feature till now. And even this “New Window on the Universe” is still too small!. Space stations need to offer big panoramic views! We desperately need new materials that allow to build a station with prospect.
It is fantastic, to fly over the Earth in a tin can. But what is that compared to the flight in a glass sphere?
Further proof of the total waste of resources that is the ISS. The complete uselessness of this boondoggle was long ago established when NASA started sending up high school science experiments, (for lack of any real science purpose), but did they really need to add an observation lounge? I guess the astronauts up there need some kind of relief from the tedium of their pointless residency.
Meanwhile, a broken rover on Mars churns out ten times as much useful science.
oh wow – and it opens, too !
We’re half way there, now it needs a giant frickin’ laser, or maybe a 200 mile long cable to lower down to the earth and haul junk up with.
Looks a nice place for contemplation. Perhaps the windows have to open for the rapid Soyuz pizza delivery…