[sarex] Harmony Node 2

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

SPACE STATION ASSEMBLY 	
Harmony Node 2
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/node2.html
  The installation of NASA's Harmony Node increases the living and 
working space inside the station to approximately 500 cubic meters 
(18,000 cubic feet). It also allows the addition of international 
laboratories from Europe and Japan to the station.

Image to right: This graphic shows the International Space Station's 
U.S. Node 2.

Harmony provides a passageway between three station science experiment 
facilities: the U.S. Destiny Laboratory, the Kibo Japanese Experiment 
Module, and the European Columbus Laboratory.

It also provides connecting ports for Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules, 
the Japanese H II Transfer Vehicle and the Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 
to which space shuttles dock. The Space Station Robotic Arm, Canadarm2, 
can operate from a powered grapple fixture on the exterior of Node 2.

Under contract of the Italian Space Agency, Alenia Spazio in Turin, 
Italy, led a consortium of European sub-contractors to build the node.

It was built for NASA under a barter agreement with the European Space 
Agency in exchange for the launch of the European Columbus Laboratory by 
the space shuttle to the International Space Station.

Image to left: The International Space Station's U.S. Node 2 is shown in 
a processing facility.

*Physical Description:*

The aluminum node is 7.2 meters (23.6 feet) long and 4.4 meters (14.5 
feet) in diameter. Its pressurized volume is 75.5 cubic meters (2666 
cubic feet), and its launch weight is approximately 14,288 kilograms 
(31,500 pounds).

Node 2 arrived at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. on June 1, 2003 to begin 
final preparations for its launch on shuttle mission STS-120, station 
assembly flight 10A. The name for Node 2, Harmony, was announced on 
March 15, 2007.