Completion of the cupola observation module

Paris, 30 August 2004
Press Release N° 49-2004

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, Jörg Feustel-Büechl, 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



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


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info