Home Improvements in Space

STS-126 Endeavour Takeoff

Some owners sometimes have to plan for a new family member, a baby or elderly parent. Rarely do they need to consider what changes their home needs when the size of their family doubles. The current space shuttle mission is focusing on just that requirement, to expand the living space to support a crew of 6 versus the current three.

Four (4) busy days of spacewalking are planned to repair the station’s solar rotary joint(s) to ensure the station can generate enough power for those extra crew members.

The Endeavour is bringing 32,000 pounds of equipment to build out the new accommodations. “It’s the most jam-packed logistics module we have ever carried up there,” STS-126 Commander Chris Ferguson said. “We’re taking a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house and turning it into a five-bedroom, two-bathroom house with a gym.”

Wondering what types of equipment goes into a space station? Here’s a partial list with some items familiar to all home owners and some we’ve probably only read about:

• New crew quarters including a new toilet
• New kitchen plus a new refrigerator
• Waste water recycling system and
• New exercise equipment, not to mention … the science experiments.

Want to learn more about Home Improvments NASA style? If you missed the launch (too cloudy where I live), check out Shammickite’s post, Mission Home Improvement, and you’ll feel like you were there.