Space station’s new observation deck going for ride on robot arm; NASA solves clearance issue

Space station observation deck being relocated

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The International Space Station’s fancy new observation deck was booked for a late night ride.

Astronauts on the shuttle-station complex were going to use a giant robot arm to move the domed lookout from one side of the newly installed Tranquility room to the other. First they had to depressurize the compartment, which took longer than expected Sunday night and held up the relocation job.

The $27 million lookout was launched last week in a temporary position on Tranquility that allowed it to fit in shuttle Endeavour’s payload bay.

A clearance problem almost scuttled the relocation of the deck.

On Saturday, bolts prevented the astronauts from attaching a thermal cover between Tranquility and the observation deck. Space station commander Jeffrey Williams removed the bolts and managed to secure the hatch cover over Tranquility’s docking mechanisms early Sunday.

After hours of review, NASA concluded there would be no clearance problem when it came time to install the observation deck in its final position.

The lookout — described as a bay window — is 5 feet tall and nearly 10 feet in diameter at its base. It sports seven windows, including the biggest one ever in space.

Because the port was going to be empty once the observation deck was moved, NASA wanted a cover there to keep Tranquility’s docking mechanisms from getting too cold. That port wasn’t going to be vacated for long. The astronauts planned to move a docking adaptor into that slot Monday night.

During the third and final spacewalk of the mission Tuesday night, astronauts will unlock the window shutters on the observation deck. Then their colleagues inside will crank open the shutters and soak in the views of Earth, outer space and the space station itself. NASA sees the dome as a huge improvement to the quality of life 220 miles up.

The first two spacewalks focused on the installation of Tranquility, a 23-foot chamber that was powered up early Sunday.

Both the dome and Tranquility are European contributions to the space station and represent the last of the major building blocks. NASA’s part of space station construction will end with the retirement of the space shuttle fleet, scheduled for this fall.

Endeavour and its crew of six have been at the orbiting outpost for nearly a week. They will depart Friday.

On the Net:

NASA: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html