Members of the Columbus project team inside the European laboratory during the final preparations before hatch closure on 16 October 2007.
Left to right: Bernardo Patti, ESA Columbus Project Manager; Gregor Woop, ESA Columbus Project PA & Safety; Alessio Festa, ESA Columbus Project Chief Mechanical Engineer; Giuliano Canovai, ESA Columbus Project Chief Avionics Engineer.
The European Columbus laboratory is the cornerstone of ESA’s contribution to the ISS and the first European laboratory dedicated to long-term research in space. Columbus will be carried into orbit in the cargo bay of Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-122 mission, scheduled for launch on 6 December 2007.