WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

Node 1, the first U.S. element for the International Space Station, and attached Pressurized Mating Adapter-1 (PMA-1) are seen here being moved into their test stand from the Shuttle payload transportation canister, where the doors were closed a week ago for a leak check in KSC's Space Station Processing Facility. Node 1 is a connecting passageway to the living and working areas of the space station. Since the node and PMA passed the test with flying colors, they were removed from the canister one week early in order to continue with other prelaunch preparation activities. Node 1 is scheduled to fly on STS-88.