ESA - Human Spaceflight and Exploration - International Space Station - Columbus laboratory

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Columbus laboratory

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Europe's laboratory on the International Space Station

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Biolab (artist's impression). Biolab is a facility designed to support biological experiments on micro-organisms, cells, tissue cultures, small plants and small invertebrates. The major objective of performing Life Sciences experiments in space is to identify the role that weightlessness plays at all levels of an organism, from the effects on a single cell up to a complex organism including humans. The Biolab facility will be launched inside the European Columbus laboratory.

Credits: ESA - D. Ducros

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The Columbus external facilities, Solar and EuTEF, are prepared to be placed into the Shuttle's payload canister at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Solar and EuTEF are attached to an ICC-lite. This structure has since been placed inside Space Shuttle Atlantis' cargo bay together with the European Columbus laboratory. Atlantis is targeted for launch to the International Space Station on 6 December 2007. In orbit, once Columbus has been attached to the Station's Harmony module, Solar and EuTEF will be attached to the exterior of Columbus.

Credits: Carlo Gavazzi Space

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Columbus Control Centre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. Under the call sign 'Munich', the Columbus Control Centre will, from 2007, be responsible for systems on board the orbiting Columbus laboratory and for European science activities on board the ISS. The centre is already building operational expertise during ESA's Astrolab Mission.

Credits: DLR

Columbus Mission

Columbus Laboratory facts

Columbus facilities

Biolab European Drawer Rack (EDR)European Physiology Modules (EPM)European Transport Carrier (ETC)Fluid Science Laboratory (FSL)Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG)

External payloads

European Technology Exposure Facility (EuTEF)SOLAR