Quest was designed to host spacewalks with both Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits and Orlan space suits.

[citation needed] The arrival of Pirs docking compartment on September 16, 2001, provided another airlock from which Orlan spacewalks can be conducted.

[6] Four hours into the Expedition 13 crew's sleep period, an error tone prompted mission controllers to cut short the activity, but the test was still deemed a success.

[6][7][8] The previous method of preparing for spacewalks involved breathing pure oxygen for several hours prior to an EVA to purge the body of nitrogen.

[11]) provide a replenishable source of gas to the atmosphere control and supply system and 900 psi (6.2 MPa) oxygen for recharging the space suits (EMUs).

[12] After the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet, the Nitrogen Oxygen Recharge System (NORS) and spacecraft from the Commercial Crew Development program will take over this task.

[needs update] This module was manufactured by Boeing, under contract by NASA, at the Marshall Space Flight Center[11] in 2000.