Destiny (ISS Module)
The Destiny module is the primary operating facility for U.S. research payloads aboard the International Space Station (ISS). It was berthed to the Unity module and activated over a period of five days in February, 2001. Destiny is NASA's first permanent operating orbital research station since Skylab was vacated in February 1974.
The Boeing Company began construction of the 16 ton (14.5 tonne), state-of-the art research laboratory in 1995 at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Destiny was shipped to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 1998, and was turned over to NASA for pre-launch preparations in August 2000. It launched on February 7, 2001 aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-98.
Astronauts work inside the pressurized facility to conduct research in numerous scientific fields. Scientists throughout the world will use the results to enhance their studies in medicine, engineering, biotechnology, physics, materials science, and Earth science.
Read more about Destiny (ISS Module): Laboratory Structure, Equipment
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