2007 shuttle flight doubled space station living space
The delivery of the Harmony node in October 2007 expanded the International Space Station's interior volume from the size of a three-bedroom home to that of a five-bedroom home.
By Marco Graham ·
On October 23, 2007, the space shuttle Discovery launched with a 14-foot-wide, 24-foot-long module attached to its payload bay. The flight, designated STS-120, carried the Harmony node to the International Space Station, a move that effectively doubled the usable volume of the orbiting complex. Before this arrival, the station's interior was comparable to a three-bedroom house. After installation, the footprint grew to the size of a five-bedroom house.
Harmony, originally called Node 2, functions as a central utility hub. It measures roughly the length of a minibus and was built for NASA by the Italy-based company Thales Alenia Space. The module houses five common berthing mechanisms that serve as connection points for other spacecraft. It also contains eight payload racks, with four dedicated to avionics and the remaining four used for storage or crew quarters. The sleeping quarters for American astronauts are located inside Harmony.
Upon arrival, the crew temporarily attached the module to the Unity node. After Discovery departed the station, astronauts used the robotic arm to move the shuttle docking port out of the way at the Destiny module. This maneuver cleared space for Harmony to be moved to its permanent location beside Destiny. The module now serves as the link for the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory on the starboard side and Japan's Kibo laboratory on the port side.
The 2007 delivery marked a new phase in station expansion. Before Harmony, the most recent addition to the station had been Russia's Pirs docking module in 2001, which has since been discarded. The arrival of Harmony provided the connecting infrastructure needed for future modules. A docking port on the module's roof allows visiting vehicles to park there, and other ports have been used by cargo ships.
The name Harmony was selected through a public naming contest organized by NASA. The module completed its roughly two-week journey as part of the STS-120 mission. Its integration into the station's structure transformed the layout, allowing for the connection of international laboratories and increasing the total habitable space for the crew.
