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The Eu­ro­pean space lab­o­ra­to­ry Colum­bus

Exterior view of the European Columbus laboratory

Ex­te­ri­or view of the Eu­ro­pean Colum­bus lab­o­ra­to­ry

February 22, 2011  Colum­bus is a re­search lab­o­ra­to­ry that of­fers 25 cu­bic me­tres of space to as many as three as­tro­nauts work­ing on sci­en­tif­ic ex­per­i­ments.

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Image 1/20, Credit: EADS
The large training-pool at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory

The large train­ing-pool at the Neu­tral Buoy­an­cy Lab­o­ra­to­ry (NBL)

February 22, 2011  The large train­ing-pool at the Neu­tral Buoy­an­cy Lab­o­ra­to­ry (NBL) – length: 62 me­tres, width: 31 me­tres, depth: 12 me­ter, ca­pac­i­ty: 22.7 mil­lion litres.

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Image 2/20, Credit: NASA
Artist's impression of the Columbus laboratory

Artist's im­pres­sion of the Colum­bus lab­o­ra­to­ry

February 22, 2011  The Colum­bus lab­o­ra­to­ry is ESA's biggest con­tri­bu­tion to the In­ter­na­tion­al Space Sta­tion (ISS). De­liv­ered to ESA by EADS SPACE Trans­porta­tion on 2 May 2006, this lab­o­ra­to­ry will pro­vide in­ter­nal pay­load ac­com­mo­da­tion for var­i­ous sci­en­tif­ic ex­per­i­ments. The Colum­bus lab­o­ra­to­ry is due to be flown on Space Shut­tle At­lantis to the ISS in De­cem­ber 2007.

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Image 3/20, Credit: ESA
STS-122 astronauts (kneeling) and support team with the European Columbus laboratory

STS-122 as­tro­nauts (kneel­ing) and sup­port team with the Eu­ro­pean Colum­bus lab­o­ra­to­ry

February 22, 2011  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.

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Image 4/20, Credit: ESA
ESA astronauts Léopold Eyharts (left) and Hans Schlegel (right) in front of the Columbus laboratory

ESA as­tro­nauts Léopold Ey­harts (left) and Hans Schlegel (right) in front of the Colum­bus lab­o­ra­to­ry

February 22, 2011  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.

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Image 5/20, Credit: ESA
United Space Alliance (USA) suit technicians assisted the crew

Unit­ed Space Al­liance (USA) suit tech­ni­cians as­sist­ed the crew

February 22, 2011  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.

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Image 6/20, Credit: NASA
The STS-122 Crew at Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center

The STS-122 Crew at Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Cen­ter

February 22, 2011  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.

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Image 7/20, Credit: NASA
Space Shuttle Atlantis was launched on 7 February 2008

Space Shut­tle At­lantis was launched on 7 Febru­ary 2008

February 22, 2011  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.

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Image 8/20, Credit: NASA/Sandra Joseph, Tony Gray, Robert Murray
View of the Columbus Control Center

View of the Colum­bus Con­trol Cen­ter

February 22, 2011  View of the Colum­bus Con­trol Cen­ter.

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Image 9/20, Credit: DLR (CC-BY 3.0)
Space laboratory Columbus en route to its final position

Space lab­o­ra­to­ry Colum­bus en route to its fi­nal po­si­tion

February 22, 2011  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.

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Image 10/20, Credit: ESA/NASA
NASA astronaut Rex Walheim attaches Columbus to the ISS

NASA as­tro­naut Rex Wal­heim at­tach­es Colum­bus to the ISS

February 22, 2011  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.

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Image 11/20, Credit: NASA
NASA astronaut Rex Walheim on the ISS robotic arm

NASA as­tro­naut Rex Wal­heim on the ISS robot­ic arm

February 22, 2011  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.

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Image 12/20, Credit: NASA
German ESA astronaut Hans Schlegel during the extra-vehicular activity

Ger­man ESA as­tro­naut Hans Schlegel dur­ing the ex­tra-ve­hic­u­lar ac­tiv­i­ty

February 22, 2011  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.

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Image 13/20, Credit: ESA/NASA
Climbing practice while weightless

Climb­ing prac­tice while weight­less

February 22, 2011  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.

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Image 14/20, Credit: ESA/NASA
The STS-122 crew and the resident ISS crew

The STS-122 crew and the res­i­dent ISS crew

February 22, 2011  Group pho­to of the STS 122 crew to­geth­er with the res­i­dent crew, Ex­pe­di­tion 16, on board the In­ter­na­tion­al Space Sta­tion ISS.

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Image 15/20, Credit: ESA/NASA
The European space laboratory Columbus is part of the ISS

The Eu­ro­pean space lab­o­ra­to­ry Colum­bus is part of the ISS

February 22, 2011  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.

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Image 16/20, Credit: ESA/NASA
ISS and Columbus module in front of Earth

ISS and Colum­bus mod­ule in front of Earth

November 30, 2018  The In­ter­na­tion­al Space Sta­tion (ISS) in or­bit above Earth's night side. The il­lu­mi­nat­ed part of the Earth ap­pears in blue on the right-hand side of the im­age. In the cen­tre of the im­age, the Eu­ro­pean Colum­bus lab­o­ra­to­ry can be seen as a cylin­der; it was in­stalled on the ISS in Febru­ary 2008.

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Image 17/20, Credit: ESA/NASA.
The Columbus laboratory

View of the Colum­bus lab­o­ra­to­ry from the Space Shut­tle At­lantis

November 30, 2018  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.

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Image 18/20, Credit: NASA
ESA astronaut Hans Schlegel in front of the Space Shuttle window

ESA as­tro­naut Hans Schlegel in front of the Space Shut­tle win­dow

February 22, 2011  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.

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Image 19/20, Credit: NASA
Photo op after the landing

Pho­to op af­ter the land­ing

February 22, 2011  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.

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Image 20/20, Credit: NASA

The Columbus laboratory, Europe's key contribution to the International Space Station ISS, is the first European space laboratory designed for ongoing multidisciplinary research in space. It installed on the ISS and put into operation on 11 February 2008.

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