WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

The interior of the first U.S. module to be launched to the International Space Station, a connecting module called Node 1, is shown as it neared the completion of manufacturing in the spring of 1997. The node was shipped from the Boeing manufacturing facility at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, to begin launch preparations in June 1997. Although the 22-foot long by 14-foot diameter node is essentially a passive station component, 216 lines for fluids and gases, 121 electrical cables and six miles of wire are installed in it to provide connections to other modules. The node will be launched aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in July 1998 and be docked with the already orbiting Functional Cargo Block, to be launched in June 1998 aboard a Russian rocket.