Today, NASA plans to move a part of the International Space Station in order to make it more accessible for space taxis or commercial crewed vehicles to dock.
The ISS will be moved by flight controllers from the NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston where it robotics will move the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) supply depot from the space lab's Unity module to be transferred to the Tranquility module. NASA TV will broadcast this live coverage at 8 A.M. EDT today.
According to NASA officials, this decision to move the Unity port will clear the area for the conversion of a spare berthing location for U.S. cargo spaceships. The ISS' Harmony docking module will also serve as the primary docking port for space taxis.
Astronauts from the Expedition 43 crew who are aboard the ISS will manage and monitor this transfer along with the help of the ground control team.
NASA's Commander Terry Virts and Scott Kelly who is also one of two crew members embarking on a one year mission on the ISS, will observe the module as it detaches from Unity to be reattached to Tranquility module. On Thursday, May 28, they will reopen the PMM hatch again.
Towards the end of this year, two SpaceX Dragon spacecrafts are slated to deliver two International Docking Adapters that will be a crucial part of the Harmony ports. These adapters will function by equalizing the pressure of the arriving spaceship with the orbiting space lab.
To date, all crew members of the ISS arrive via a Soyuz spacecraft operated by the Russian federal space agency, Roscosmos. Right now, the ports at the space station can accommodate the Soyuz and NASA's space shuttle before it stopped operations in 2011.
Replacing the space shuttle are commercial vehicles designed by Boeing and SpaceX that will ferry manned U.S. spaceflights beginning 2017.
Boeing and SpaceX are under a billion dollar contract with NASA to develop and design space taxis that will bring crews to the space station.