A room with a view for the International Space Station: Completion of the cupola observation module

Development phase completion of the European-built observation module, or “cupola”, for the International Space Station will be marked by a ceremony at the Alenia Spazio facility in Turin, Italy on Monday 6 September.

The cupola, currently scheduled for launch in January 2009, is an observation and control tower for the ISS, with windows that will provide a panoramic view for observing and guiding operations on the outside of the station.

The pressurised module will accommodate command and control workstations and other hardware, enabling crewmembers to control the station’s robotic arm – for attaching and assembling various station elements – and to communicate with other crewmembers in other parts of the station or outside during spacewalk activities. The cupola will also be used for observational applications in the areas of Earth observation and space science.

The cupola project is the outcome of a bilateral barter agreement between the European Space Agency and NASA, under which ESA is providing the cupola for the ISS in exchange for Shuttle transportation of European equipment and experiments to the station.

The completion of the cupola marks the end of the development phase of the project, which began with the signing of the cupola contract between ESA and Alenia Spazio on 8 February 1999. Under the contract, Alenia Spazio acted as prime contractor for production, responsible for coordinating six other firms: CASA (Spain), APCO (Switzerland), SAAB Ericsson and Lindholmen Development (Sweden), EADS Space Transportation (Germany) and Verhaert (Belgium).

The 1.8-tonne cupola is now ready to be transported to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. There, it will go through a final set of checks before being put into storage for four years, at the end of which it will be prepared for launch.

The ceremony on 6 September will be attended by ESA’s Director of Human Spaceflight, Joerg Feustel-Bueechl, Alenia Spazio’s CEO, Maurizio Tucci, and Infrastructures and Scientific Satellites Director, Luigi Quaglino, ESA Cupola Project Manager, Philippe Deloo, Alenia Spazio Cupola Project Manager, Doriana Buffa, and NASA ISS Program Management representative, Michael See.

Following the ceremony, media representatives will have the opportunity to visit the cupola in Integration Room 73 at Alenia Spazio and then conduct individual interviews.

The ceremony, starting at 10:30, will take place at:

Alenia Spazio
Corso Marche, 41
10146 Torino
Italy

Media representatives interested in participating are requested to fill in the attached form and return it via fax to:

Brigitte Kolmsee
ESA Media Relations Service
Fax: +33(0)1 53 69 7690

For further information please contact:

Franco Bonacina
ESA Media Relations Service
Tel: +33(0)1 53 69 7155
Fax: +33(0)1 53 69 7690

or:

Dieter Isakeit
Erasmus User Centre and Communication Office
Directorate of Human Spaceflight
Tel: +31(0)71 565 5451
Fax:+31(0)71 565 8008