Shenzhou-7 Manned Space Flight

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Airlock Module

Quest Joint Airlock Module (NASA)

China’s self-developed airlock module

The airlock module and extravehicular spacesuit are critical for the mission and their design are challenging for the Chinese scientists.

U.S. joint airlock module

The Quest Airlock was built and tested at the Space Station Manufacturing Building at NASA´s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

How does An Airlock Module Work?

Spacewalkers must wear pressurized spacesuits in order to work in space. These suits have pressures significantly lower than ambient cabin pressure of a spacecraft.
This makes spacewalkers subject to decompression sickness, more commonly known as the "bends."

Space station extravehicular activity

Before the arrival of the Joint Airlock Module, which is named Quest, on shuttle mission STS-104, spacewalks conducted from the space station could only use Russian spacesuits, unless the space shuttle was present.
The Joint Airlock Module, which was attached to the station during the 10th space shuttle assembly flight, gave the station the capability to conduct spacewalks using U.S. spacesuits.

Space shuttle to deliver new 'doorway to space'

Airlock loaded in Space Shuttle Atlantis. In preparation for the upcoming launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis set for July 12, the new International Space Station airlock and a gas supply tanks were loaded in the orbiter´s payload bay at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.