jsc2004e44649

JSC2004-E-44649 (September 2004) --- Engineers and technicians (partially visible in right background) check the International Space Station's Cupola in the Alenia Spazio clean room in Turin, Italy. Personnel are preparing the hardware for shipment to NASA's launch facility at Cape Kennedy, Florida. From inside the Cupola, a dome-shaped module with seven windows, astronauts have a panoramic view for observing operations on the outside of the orbiting complex. The Cupola module provides external observation capabilities during spacewalks, docking operations, hardware surveys and for Earth and celestial studies. It also serves as the primary location for executing robot arm operations of Canadarm2. Until the Cupola is installed, crews have been using a robotic control computer station located in the Destiny Laboratory to operate the arm. The Cupola’s windows enhance the robotic arm operator's situational awareness, supplementing camera and graphic views provided by the computer workstation. Photo Credit: Alenia Spazio