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This paper presents an overview of the design and operation of the internal thermal control system (ITCS) developed for Space Station Freedom by the NASA-Johnson Space Center and McDonnell Douglas Aerospace to provide cooling for the resource nodes, airlock, and pressurized logistics modules. The ITCS collects, transports, and rejects waste heat from these modules by a dual-loop, single-phase water cooling system. ITCS performance, cooling, and flow rate requirements are presented. An ITCS fluid schematic is shown and an overview of the current baseline system design and its operation is presented. Assembly sequence of the ITCS is explained as its configuration develops from Man Tended Capability (MTC), for which node 2 alone is cooled, to Permanently Manned Capability (PMC) where the airlock, a pressurized logistics module, and node 1 are cooled, in addition to node 2.

The International Space Station's primary external heat transport system is a single phase ammonia loop called the Active Thermal Control System (ATCS). ATCS loop heat is acquired from the station modules through interface heat exchangers (Internal Thermal Control System water to ATCS ammonia) and from external truss mounted electronics through cold plates. The heat exchangers are compact plate/fin counterflow type and the cold plates are a brazed and bonded construction using a radiation heat transfer interface to the electronics.