page_title: Space Station Processing Facility
section_title: Station Integration Testing
hierarchical_section_title: Space Station Processing Facility / Station Integration Testing
caption_attribution_description: English: CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Express Logistics Carrier-2, or ELC-2, moves across the ceiling, past the Tranquility module with the cupola attached (at left) and the Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules (at right), toward a transportation canister in which it will be secured for its trip to Launch Pad 39A. Once at the pad, it will be installed in space shuttle Atlantis' payload bay. The carrier is part of the payload for Atlantis' STS-129 mission to the International Space Station. The STS-129 crew will deliver two spare gyroscopes, two nitrogen tank assemblies, two pump modules, an ammonia tank assembly and a spare latching end effector for the station's robotic arm. Launch is targeted for Nov. 16. For information on the STS-129 mission objectives and crew, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts129/index.html.
context_page_description: The Space Station Processing Facility is a three-story, 42,500 m² industrial building
  located in the Kennedy Space Center industrial area, just east of the Operations and Checkout Building.
  It was constructed in 1992 for the manufacture and processing of International Space Station modules, flight hardware, equipment, structural components and solar arrays.
  The SSPF includes two processing bays, an airlock, operational control rooms, laboratories, logistics areas, office space, a ballroom and conference halls, and a cafeteria.
  The processing areas, airlock, and laboratories were designed to support non-hazardous Station and Space Shuttle payloads in 100,000 class clean work areas.
context_section_description: Regarding the launch of modules of the International Space Station (ISS), there had been philosophical differences for years between designers and payload processors whether to ship-and-shoot or perform integration testing prior to launch. The former involved building a station module and launching it without ever physically testing it with other modules. The integration testing was not originally in the ISS plan, but in 1995 Johnson Space Center designers began to consider it and embedding KSC personnel at module factories. Multi-Element Integration Testing (MEIT) of ISS modules at KSC was officially in the books in 1997.
  "Three MEIT and one Integration Systems Test (IST) tests were conducted for the ISS," taking about three years from planning to completion and closure:
  MEIT1: US Lab, Z1 truss, P6 truss, and a Node 1 emulator
  Planning began in 1997, Testing began January 1999
  MEIT2: S0 truss/Mobile Transporter/Mobile Base System, S1 truss, P1 truss, P3 truss, P4 truss, and a US Lab emulator.
  MEIT3: Japanese Experiment Module, Node 2, and the US Lab emulator
  Completed in 2007
  Node2 IST: Node 2 and US Lab and Node 1 emulators, as part of the ISS Flight Emulator
  After the launch of the Destiny, an emulator was built for MEIT testing, since the lab controlled many other modules. Among the items checked were mechanical connections, the ability to flow power and fluids between modules, and the flight software.
  Numerous issues were found from these on the ground tests, many of which could not have been fixed in orbit. Many of the builders accompanied their modules from around the world and worked at KSC for months to years during testing. Many of the modules were renamed after successfully launching.
caption: Space Station workstations and engineers in the high bay area
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