Wet Workshop Technique

Wet Workshop Technique

The Jupiter module was a shuttle external propellant tank adapted for scientific use by a technique know as the “wet workshop”. Unlike the station’s lab and hab modules, which had been completely outfitted on the ground and transported to the station on heavy-lif boosters, only the major structural elements of the eventual Jupiter module – flooring, workstation wells, internal tunnel, bulkheads – were built into the tank’s internal sections.

The tank was then filled with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen; these powered the engines as the shuttle flew into orbit.

Since safety considerations required the shuttle engines to shot down before the fuel was completely expended, small amounts of these propellants remained floating weightlessly inside the tank after it achieved orbit. The liquid hydrogen was removed by a clever pumping device. The liquid oxygen was simply heated by sunlight until it turned into its gaseous, breathable state.

Illustration by Elena