The Destiny module, also known as the U.S. Lab, is the primary operating facility for U.S. research payloads aboard the International Space Station (ISS). It was berthed to the Unity module and activated over a period of five days in February, 2001. Destiny is NASA's first permanent operating orbital research station since Skylab was vacated in February 1974. The Boeing Company began construction of the research laboratory in 1995 at the Michoud Assembly Facility and then the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Destiny was shipped to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 1998, and was turned over to NASA for pre-launch preparations in August 2000. It launched on February 7, 2001 aboard the on STS-98. Astronauts work inside the pressurized facility to conduct research in numerous scientific fields. Scientists throughout the world would use the results to enhance their studies in medicine, engineering, biotechnology, physics, materials science, and Earth science. Launch and installation Destiny was launched to ISS aboard the Space Shuttle mission STS-98. It launched into Earth orbit on February 7, 2001 aboard the . On February 10, 2001 at 9:50 am CST, the installation of Destiny began. First, the Shuttle SRMSS (CanadaArm) was used to remove Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 (PMA 2) from Unity node's forward port to make room for the new module. PMA-2 was temporarily stowed on the forward berthing ring of the Z1 truss. Destiny was "grabbed" by the robotic arm at 11:23, lifted out of Atlantis cargo bay, and berthed to the forward port of Unity. Two days later, PMA-2 was moved to its semi-permanent location on the forward hatch of Destiny. (See also Pressurized Mating Adapter and Z1 Truss.) Several years later, on November 14, 2007, the Harmony module was attached to the forward end of the Destiny laboratory. The addition of Destiny increased the habitable volume by 3,800 cubic feet, an increase of 41 percent. Laboratory structure The U.S. laboratory module is long and wide. It is made from aluminum and stainless steel, and comprises three cylindrical sections and two endcones that contain the hatch openings through which astronauts enter and exit the module. The aft port of Destiny is connected to the forward port of Unity, and the forward port of Destiny is connected to the aft port of Harmony. The ends are colored blue and white respectively for the crew to navigate easily. A -diameter window is