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A Boeing Co. engineer stands inside the Joint Airlock Module’s equipment lock, where International Space Station crews will change into and out of their spacesuits for extravehicular activities (EVAs) and service their suits as needed. Batteries, power tools and other supplies will be stored within easy reach inside specially designed compartments. The airlock module leaves its test berth at Marshall Space Flight Center on Sept. 13, bound for Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

Photo: Dennis Olive, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

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In its final days at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center facilities in Huntsville, Ala., the International Space Station’s Joint Airlock Module undergoes exhaustive structural and systems testing, prior to being wrapped and lifted into a protective container for its Sept. 13 flight to Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The airlock is expected to be carried to space aboard the Space Shuttle next spring.

Photo: Dennis Olive, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

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A Boeing Co. engineer conducts tests inside the Joint Airlock Module’s multipurpose Equipment Lock, which serves not only as a dressing room for spacewalking crewmembers aboard the International Space Station–but also as a depressurization and repressurization chamber to protect them from the effects of working in the vacuum of space. The airlock module leaves its test berth at Marshall Space Flight Center on Sept. 13, bound for Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

Photo: Dennis Olive, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

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When the Joint Airlock Module reaches orbit in spring of 2001, it will open a doorway to space exploration for crewmembers aboard the International Space Station. On Sept. 13, the airlock module leaves its test berth at Marshall Space Flight Center, bound for Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

Photo: Dennis Olive, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

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