It was launched aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour's mission STS-130 on 8 February 2010, and attached to the Tranquility (Node 3) module.

[2] The Cupola provides an observation and work area for the ISS crew giving visibility to support the control of the space station remote manipulator system and general external viewing of Earth, celestial objects and visiting vehicles.

The Cupola project was started by NASA and Boeing, but canceled due to budget cuts.

[3] The Cupola is important to astronauts aboard the ISS,[3] who enjoy using the module to view and photograph the Earth.

Human factors specialist Frances Mount began to develop the rationale and operational scenarios for the Cupola, and got considerable support from Chief Astronaut John Young and Shuttle Commander Gordon Fullerton.

Laurie Weaver, who had just started with NASA as a student intern, began to work on a series of different configurations for the Cupola.

An inexpensive mock-up made of PVC tubes was built and tested underwater, where critical dimensions could be measured to ensure that two crew members in zero-g would have adequate access.

The different configurations and their positive and negative attributes were presented at a series of Crew Station Reviews over the next year in which participants rated each.

The McDonnell Douglas design was basically the same as NASA's, but Boeing's was smaller — a hexagon, with a single large circular overhead window, and a much shorter cylinder.

More than once the responsibilities for fabrication were bartered to one international partner and then another in exchange for Shuttle launch services and resources that the United States would provide on board the station in orbit.

The Cupola made the rounds to Brazil and then finally wound up with ESA and the Italians in 1998, who completed it in 2003.

The installation of the Cupola, along with Tranquility, marked one of the last main components to be added to the International Space Station.