Columbus (ISS module)

Columbus is the European Space Agency's science laboratory module on the International Space Station and its largest single contribution to the station. The structure was built in Turin, Italy, by Alcatel Alenia Space, now Thales Alenia Space, while EADS Astrium Space Transportation, now part of Airbus Defence and Space, was the overall prime contractor for design, verification and integration in Bremen, Germany. It is a cylinder of stainless steel, Kevlar and aluminium about 6.9 metres long and 4.5 metres across, with room for ten active payload racks and an external payload facility for experiments. It flew to the station aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-122, launched on 7 February 2008, and was berthed to the Harmony node by the Canadarm2 four days later. It is operated from the Columbus Control Centre at the German Space Operations Center near Munich, and ESA put its total cost with operations at about 1.4 billion euros.