On March 01, 2011 an Italian-made module was successfully installed and became a part of the ISS.
The vessel is the modified "Leonardo” reusable cargo van that had visited the station seven times, but now it's a permanent fixture. The Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module (or PMM) was delivered by Discovery (STS-133). It was attached to the central Unity module. The Permanent Multipurpose Module was pulled from shuttle Discovery's cargo bay by American astronauts M.Barratt and N.Stott, operating the space station's robot arm, then maneuvered the module into position for attachment to Unity's Earth-facing port. After a careful alignment, four latches pulled the module snugly into place and 16 motorized bolts then were driven to firmly lock it to the station.
The PMM originally was built to carry supplies and equipment to the International Space Station aboard the space shuttle and then to return to Earth with trash and no-longer-needed equipment. With the shuttle fleet scheduled for retirement after just two more missions, NASA upgraded the Leonardo MPLM for permanent attachment to the station. Attachments: | 
