Space Station has to wait for its scientific Destiny The
International Space Station will now have to wait for delivery
of first science facility - the US laboratory 'Destiny' - after
the launch of space shuttle Atlantis was cancelled this week.
The US$1.4 billion Destiny is a laboratory module enabling
experiments in the near-zero gravity of space. The module will
end up with 24 payload racks supporting facilities for research
in biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion and life sciences.
In microgravity - also called weightlessness - fluids no longer
convect or flow because one part is lighter or heavier than the
other. These conditions allow materials scientists to
investigate the fundamental properties that control how
materials form and behave. The module is 8.5 metre long and 4.3
metre in diameter and consists of three cylindrical sections and
two endcones with hatches that will be mated to other station
components. It has an exterior covered by a debris shiled
blanket made of a material similar to that