The ISS observation module with seven windows is Cupola. Built by the European Space Agency, Cupola gives astronauts a panoramic view of Earth, visiting spacecraft, spacewalks, and the station’s robotic equipment.
The name comes from the Italian word for “dome.” Cupola was launched aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour on February 8, 2010, during STS-130, and attached to Tranquility, also called Node 3. Its central window is about 80 centimetres across, while six smaller windows surround it.
Cupola was conceived as a workstation for operating Canadarm2 and observing activity outside the station. Its development nearly disappeared after an early NASA-Boeing project was canceled because of budget cuts, but an agreement with ESA revived the design. The module’s unusual geometry was shaped around astronauts floating side by side in microgravity.
Cupola is sometimes confused with Destiny, the US laboratory, which has a smaller observation window. Zvezda also offered earlier photographic views, but Cupola became the ISS’s signature lookout and one of the best places for photographing Earth.