Cupola Space PHOTOS: Pictures From The New Space Station Observatory

In February 2010, the International Space Station got a room with a view: A large, seven-windowed cupola was addedto the ISS, giving the astronauts an unprecedented window on the world.

Cupola caps the Tranquility node, the last modular addition to the ISS. Tranquility was transported to the ISS by the shuttle Endeavour (Watch the February launch of shuttle Endeavour.)

Measuring 5 feet high and nearly 10 feet in diameter, Cupola will also be a control center for the station robotics. From inside this observatory/port, crew members will monitor exterior activities and operate the robotic arms that conduct extravehicular work.

The Cupola also provides stunning views of earth and space. Check out photos from the ISS's new 'room with a view' in the slideshow below.

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A Seacoast That Never Sleeps

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A view of the United States' northeastern seaboard, taken by Astronaut Soichi Noguchi from inside the Cupola. Read more about Noguchi HuffPost Tech, and follow him on Twitter @Astro_Soichi.

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A view of the United States' northeastern seaboard, taken by Astronaut Soichi Noguchi from inside the Cupola. Read more about Noguchi HuffPost Tech, and follow him on Twitter @Astro_Soichi.

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Starstruck Out Of This WORLD

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Comments

[DG3]

09:50 PM on 05/01/2010

Robert Behnken looks like a girl in that photo.

[ideasmatter]

04:40 PM on 03/23/2010

George Bush directed NASA in 2004 to return to the moon. The only reason for that is that China had declared its intentions to put a man on the moon; there is absolutely no other scientific or technologi­cal reason to return to Luna(cy). The US had to show China that the moon is "ours". The program that NASA embarked on was going to take at least twice as long as the original moon landing project (...). Bush never requested sufficient funding, and thus NASA had to cannibaliz­e its Earth observing programs and a long-term program to go to Mars.

Now that the Obama administra­tion has completely abandoned the moon return, resources will be freed for NASA's crucially important and near-death Earth observing program. That entails satellites that observe tropical forests, ocean levels and temperatur­es, ice caps, CO2 content, pollution, volcanic eruptions; pretty much everything that relates to climate change. Exactly the informatio­n that is needed if we ever are going to be serious about dealing with global warming.

In addition, the program to send people to Mars, several decades from now, may get back on track. I am not a big fan of manned space exploratio­n -- everything humans do in space can be done much better by robots -- but going to Mars is different. This is a place that really could become our second home in some distant future. (And unlike what happened in the "New World", on Mars we wouldn't be replacing a native population­.)

[MidwestHeart]

08:01 PM on 05/01/2010

Fanned. Great informatio­n. Thank you.

[redheadwoman]

11:08 AM on 05/02/2010

Same here---fan­ned for useful informatio­n---that's why I come to HuffPo comments.

[ChicagoBob]

07:41 AM on 03/23/2010

Ain't technology grand.

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

02:36 AM on 03/23/2010

Wonder what tunes he played on that guitar. And what brand was it ?

[bioluminescence]

10:32 AM on 03/22/2010

Speaking of views. We've got to start looking at government agencies such as NASA in a different way. It's budget of more than $17 billion is 300 per cent bigger than the allocation for government funded cancer research. Is this really the spending priortiy most Americans would place on the two activities­?

[ZenGardner]

11:05 AM on 03/22/2010

Yes

[John Mainstream]

08:38 PM on 03/22/2010

We should double NASA's budget.

[Gunwing]

07:56 AM on 03/22/2010

Nice to See space info after such a long drought on this kind of stuff thanks to bush......­..... Now with Obama it's cool again to talk about space exploratio­n, and anything to do with tech/disco­very.

Why I love this man.......­. A true Geek in the WH and a true leader of the people.

BTW: Cool shots there, I hope they use it well.

[Navy26Yrs]

07:33 AM on 03/22/2010

Glad to see the crew of the ISS can now have a jam session in space. Culture must follow them up there. Now they need a drum kit or at least some bongos and maybe a short neck bass. Is this the first guitar in space? I am digging this HUFPOST - nice post med care reform stuff. Thanks!

[PresidentRobertBooth]

04:09 AM on 03/22/2010

Moon Rising is the best photo

[CarolinaDem]

04:07 AM on 03/22/2010

Reminds me of Pinback's friend in the cupola of the Dark Star

[SmolderingRuin]

03:34 AM on 03/22/2010

One decent picture of the earth, and the rest are a waste of time. It's supposed to be about the VIEW isn't it?

[jsarets]

04:29 AM on 03/22/2010

Not really. The view is actually the secondary purpose of the Cupola. It's main purpose is to serve as the station's primary command post for controllin­g robotics, spacewalk, and docking operations­.

This frees up the Destiny lab, which had previously been the de facto command and habitation module of the U.S. segment, for its intended science objectives­. Habitation hardware, including life support, bathroom, and exercise equipment, has been moved to the new Node 3 (Tranquili­ty).

New science racks for Destiny (which couldn't have been accommodat­ed before Cupola and Node 3 were assembled) are arriving on Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-131) in a couple weeks. The final scheduled mission for Discovery and the Shuttle program (STS-133) will deliver the Leonardo logistics module, a very large storage volume, freeing up the Columbus lab, which has been cluttered with storage items pretty much since its arrival.

The rationale behind the final leg of ISS assembly is to establish a logical separation of functional­ity in the U.S. segment, with its three national labs (Destiny, Columbus, and Kibo) dedicated to science; Harmony as the utility hub for docking, power, and cooling; Unity as the central dining and meeting room; Tranquilit­y as the living quarters; Cupola as the command station; Quest as the EVA airlock; and Leonardo as the float-in closet.

[SmolderingRuin]

05:58 PM on 03/22/2010

Thanks. I learned a lot from your post. Sorry I was grumpy about the pictures.

[davidgoldmandg]

03:19 AM on 03/22/2010

Why didnt they make it a single transplant dome? There are plenty of materials strong enough...

[jsarets]

03:50 AM on 03/22/2010

Remember that the ISS is a pressurize­d spacecraft in a near vacuum environmen­t where it frequently collides with micrometeo­rites at tens of thousands of miles per hour of relative velocity. Also this was cheaper... and Cupola was built in Italy under contract with the European Space Agency as part of its agreement to repay NASA for delivering the Columbus module to the ISS.

[DG3]

09:52 PM on 05/01/2010

Well said.

[ZimboDude]

02:36 AM on 03/22/2010

obama hates america *wink wink* thats what the GOP/tee-pu­tty-ers woud say

[lbcyclist]

12:57 AM on 03/22/2010

Beautiful. Like having a balcony into space.

[LeftLeanWing]

02:29 AM on 03/22/2010

or a giant earthlight in your stairWell.

[Cryptic Quill]

12:42 AM on 03/22/2010

Simply amazing. Look what we can do!!!

[ipastor02]

12:00 AM on 03/22/2010

Now, that is more like what they promised in the movies.