Exterior view of the European Columbus laboratory.
European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Hans Schlegel, STS-122 mission specialist, dons a training version of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit prior to being submerged in the waters of the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) near Johnson Space Center. Jerry L. Ross, Chief, Vehicle Integration Test Office, assisted Schlegel.
The large training-pool at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) – length: 62 metres, width: 31 metres, depth: 12 meter, capacity: 22.7 million litres.
Inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, an overhead crane is lowered onto the Columbus module to lift it out of its transportation canister. Columbus is the European Space Agency's research laboratory for the International Space Station. The module will be moved to a work stand and prepared for delivery to the space station on a future space shuttle mission. Columbus will expand the research facilities of the station and provide researchers with the ability to conduct numerous experiments in the area of life, physical and materials sciences.
Inside of Columbus-Module, artist impression.
STS-122 astronauts (kneeling) and support team with the European Columbus laboratory inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Columbus is under preparation in the SSPF for launch into orbit with Space Shuttle Atlantis on flight STS-122.
ESA astronauts Léopold Eyharts (left) and Hans Schlegel (right) in front of the Columbus laboratory in the NASA integration hall known as the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at the Kennedy Space Center. Columbus is being prepared for the launch of mission STS-122.
European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Léopold Eyharts (foreground), Expedition 16 flight engineer; astronaut Stanley G. Love and ESA astronaut Hans Schlegel, both STS-122 mission specialists, participate in a training session in one of the full-scale trainers in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at Johnson Space Center. Attired in training versions of their shuttle launch and entry suits, the three are seated on the middeck for a post insertion/de-orbit training session. Eyharts is scheduled to join Expedition 16 as flight engineer after launching to the International Space Station on mission STS-122.
The STS-122 crewmembers don training versions of their shuttle launch and entry suits in preparation for a training session in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at the Johnson Space Center. From the left are astronauts Stephen N. Frick, commander; Alan G. Poindexter, pilot; Leland D. Melvin, Rex J. Walheim, European Space Agency's (ESA) Hans Schlegel and Stanley G. Love, all mission specialists. United Space Alliance (USA) suit technicians assisted the crew.
The space shuttle Atlantis STS-122 crew poses for a group portrait at Launch Pad 39A as Atlantis undergoes final preparations for launch behind them. From left are Mission Specialists Hans Schlegel, Rex Walheim and Leland Melvin; Pilot Alan Poindexter; Commander Steve Frick; and Mission Specialists Stanley Love and Léopold Eyharts. Schlegel and Eyharts are with the European Space Agency. Eyharts remained on the International Space Station as a flight engineer for Expedition 16 following the STS-122 mission.
Right up to the last moment on 7 February 2008, it was uncertain if the weather conditions in Cape Canaveral in Florida would allow the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis at all. By launch time, at 14:45 (20:45 Central European Time), the clouds dispersed and NASA cleared the shuttle launch for mission STS-122. This mission brought the European research laboratory Columbus to the ISS.
NASA/Sandra Joseph, Tony Gray, Robert Murray.
View of the Columbus Control Center.
DLR (CC-BY 3.0).
Staff at the Columbus Control Center.
The Columbus research laboratory en route to its new position, the right-side port of the Harmony module (Node 2). The Columbus laboratory was attached to the International Space Station ISS on 11 February 2008.
NASA astronaut Rex Walheim during the first activity outside the spacecraft (Extra-vehicular Activity, or EVA for short) of the Columbus mission, on 11 February 2008. Together with his colleague, NASA astronaut Stanley Love, Walheim attached the Columbus space laboratory to the International Space Station ISS.
NASA astronaut Rex Walheim during his second extra-vehicular activity on 13 February 2008. Walheim is suspended from the robotic arm (Canadarm2) of the International Space Station ISS, holding a nitrogen tank. The nitrogen tank, which is the size of a refrigerator, is used in cooling the ISS.
German ESA astronaut Hans Schlegel climbed out of the International Space Station (ISS) on 13 February 2008. The main objective of his extra-vehicular activity with NASA astronaut Rex Walheim was to replace a refrigerator-sized nitrogen tank that is part of the ISS cooling system. The spacewalk lasted from 15:27 CET to 22:12 – 6 hours and 45 minutes.
German ESA astronaut Hans Schlegel performing his extra-vehicular activity during the Columbus mission, on 13 February 2008. The image was recorded while the International Space Station ISS was flying over the night-side of the Earth, almost completely unlit.
Group photo of the STS 122 crew together with the resident crew, Expedition 16, on board the International Space Station ISS.
The Columbus laboratory, photographed after the undocking manoeuvre of the Space Shuttle Atlantis from the International Space Station ISS. During the so-called fly-around on 18 February 2008, the shuttle flies around the ISS. The Space Shuttle astronauts have used this opportunity to take pictures of the ISS in its current construction stage. During the STS-122 mission, the Columbus space laboratory was added - it is the horizontal, shiny drum in the image.
The International Space Station ISS floats above the Earth's night side. On the right-hand side of the picture, you can see the Earth's day side. In the centre of the image, you can recognise the European Columbus laboratory as a bright and shiny drum, which was attached to the ISS in February 2008.
The European Columbus laboratory was attached to the ISS during the STS-122 mission. Columbus is a joint European project led by the European Space Agency ESA. Germany was and is prominently involved in building, operating and using Columbus. The Columbus Control Centre is located within the German Space Operations Center (Deutsches Raumfahrt-Kontrollzentrum) in Oberpfaffenhofen.
After undocking from the ISS, the astronauts in the Space Shuttle Atlantis look back through the shuttle window. German ESA astronaut Hans Schlegel, who, along with his colleagues on the STS-122 mission, installed the Columbus space laboratory on the ISS and commissioned it, looks back at the work they have done.
The astronauts of the STS-122 mission after the landing, in front of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. From left to right: Leland Melvin, Hans Schlegel, Stanley Love, Rex Walheim, Alan Poindexter, and Stephen Frick. During its mission, the crew had attached the European space laboratory Columbus to the ISS.