OTD in Space - Oct. 23: Space Station's Harmony Module Launches on STS-120

On October 23, 2007, the space shuttle Discovery launched the Harmony module to the International Space Station. The Harmony module is a utility hub 14 feet wide and 24 feet long, or about the length of a minibus. It joins the European Space Agency’s Columbus module and Japan’s Kibo laboratory and serves as the crew quarters for the American astronauts. Once it was in installed, the space station grew from about the size of a three-bedroom house to something more like a five-bedroom house. When astronauts delivered Harmony to the space station, they left it temporarily attached to the Unity node. After the shuttle left, astronauts used the space station's robotic arm to move the shuttle docking port out of the way at the Destiny module. This made room for Harmony to then dock at its permanent home next to the Destiny module.