Space Shuttle Endeavour to deliver Tranquility module incl. ESA Cupola

Space Shuttle Endeavour is to deliver on February 9 a new technological module, Tranquility, to the International Space Station for its U.S. segment, a NASA expert said Friday.

This picture gives you a very good artist's impression of the module which includes the Cupola observation windows developed and manufactured by ESA, as part of a barter agreement with NASA.

Click here for further information on ESA's Node 3 and Cupola

Members of the Apollo 11 mission, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, stepped down from the lunar lander onto the moon's Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969. The Tranquility module was named in honor of this event's 40th anniversary.

Tranquility will make waste water recycling and oxygen regeneration easier.

The shuttle, to be launched February 7, will carry six astronauts who are to hook Tranquility up during spacewalks. The shuttle fleet is to sated to be mothballed in the autumn of 2010, unless it's replacement is not ready.

Without the Shuttle vehicles the US Space Agency, ESA and its partners are dependent on Russia's RSA to uplift astronauts and large components to the ISS.