Us company Spacehab and Russia's Energia have released details of the proposed Enterprise "multipurpose commercial space station habitat module", which will be attached to the International Space Station (ISS) in March 2003.
The 3m (10ft) diameter, 8m-long module will provide 50m³ (1,800ft³) of pressurised volume, outfitted with laboratory research services, utilities and stowage space.
Enterprise will also feature a television and internet studio - the first space-based news and information, advertising and promotional outlet for a global audience.
Enterprise, which will also be able to accommodate exterior, unpressurised payloads, is based on the design of the Progress unmanned tanker craft, and will replace the docking and stowage module previously planned as a Russian contribution to the ISS.
• NASA has completed an air-drop and glide test of an 80% scale prototype of the X-38 Crew Rescue Vehicle (CRV) for the ISS. The prototype was dropped from a Boeing B-52 at 11,000m (36,000ft) and made an unexpected 360° roll for 30s until the 24m parachute was deployed. The craft landed close to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, California. Until the CRV is deployed at the ISS, crews will rely on the Russian Soyuz TM manned ferry to evacuate the station in an emergency.
Source: Flight International
