From NASANews@luna.osf.hq.nasa.govThu Feb  1 07:44:59 1996
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 12:36:18 -0500
From: NASA HQ Public Affairs Office <NASANews@luna.osf.hq.nasa.gov>
To: press-release-com@mercury.hq.nasa.gov
Subject: Exterior of U.S. Space Station Modules Completed\; Flight
Hardware on Track for Launch in 1997

Ray Castillo
Headquarters, Washington, DC                 January 30, 1996
(Phone:  202/358-4555)

Doug Ward
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone:  713/244-7926)

RELEASE:  96-17

EXTERIOR OF U.S. SPACE STATION MODULES COMPLETED; 
FLIGHT HARDWARE ON TRACK FOR LAUNCH IN 1997

    With a final weld on the module that will house astronauts 
aboard the international Space Station, over 80,000 pounds of 
flight hardware have been manufactured and the exterior 
structures of the U.S. components are now complete.

    "Our manufacturing is proceeding on schedule," said Wil 
Trafton, acting Associate Administrator for Space Flight.  
"This is what two years of stable funding and hard work will 
get you.  Node 1 will be launched in December 1997 and we are 
right on track with our other modules.  We'll be ready for the 
first U.S. launch."  

    McDonnell Douglas technicians are installing secondary 
structural subassemblies in both Node 1 and Node 2.  This 
equipment includes braces that will hold floors, equipment 
racks and parts of various station utility systems, life 
support, power, communication and other elements.

    Boeing completed machining on Nodes 1 and 2 last year.  
The nodes also have all of their hatches and common berthing 
mechanisms in place.  Node 2 (which serves as both the 
structural test article and a flight article) is almost ready 
to begin pressure and leak testing.  To that end, technicians 
have attached approximately 900 strain gauges to measure 
stresses during a series of tests which begin later this 
month.  It will be painted after these tests are complete.  
Node 2 is scheduled to be launched to the Space Station in 
September 1999.

    Node 1, which will be the first U.S.-manufactured Space 
Station module to fly, also has been welded and machined.  It 
will be painted in April and will undergo pressure tests after 
Node 2.  In June, Node 1 will begin the process of final 
assembly and checkout.  It will be launched from Kennedy Space 
Center in November 1997. 

    The  U.S. lab module currently is being machined in a 
device called a horizontal boring mill.  Technicians will 
begin installing mechanical systems in early February.  The 
lab then will undergo its own pressure tests and be painted.  
The laboratory module will come back to a clean room for 
checkout before being shipped to Kennedy Space Center for its 
scheduled November 1998 launch. 

    The U.S. habitat module, where the astronauts will eat and 
sleep, will follow the lab module into the horizontal boring 
mill for machining, then undergo mechanical installation in 
May and begin pressure tests in July.  The habitat module is 
among the last pieces to be launched to the International 
Space Station in 2002.  The laboratory and habitat modules 
each are 28 feet long and 14 feet in diameter.  The two 
connecting node modules are the same diameter, but 10 feet shorter.

    Boeing also is building an airlock module for the Space 
Station.  Astronauts will suit up in the airlock before 
venturing out during spacewalks.  Welding on the airlock has 
begun and will be completed in June.  Once the airlock is 
built, it will mark the completion of welding of every major 
structural component being built by Boeing in Huntsville.

    NASA's international partners also are making progress on 
their hardware.  The critical Russian-built Functional Cargo 
Block (FGB) is on schedule for launch on a Proton vehicle in 
November 1997.  In December, 1995, the FGB experienced a 
pressure test failure.  Khrunichev, the Russian subcontractor 
building the FGB, had seen this anomaly in prior modules 
similar to the FGB.  Recently, Khrunichev completed repairs 
and carried out the pressure test successfully.  The FGB is 
back on schedule.

                        -end-

EDITOR'S NOTE:  Images to illustrate this release are 
available for news media representatives by calling the 
Headquarters Broadcast and Imaging Branch on 202/358-1900.  
Photo numbers are:

Caption description          Color          B&W
Habitation Module            96-HC-36       96-H-36
Laboratory Module            96-HC-37       96-H-37
Node Modules                 96-HC-38       96-H-38

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