Spaceflight

ESA's Columbus passes key test

By Rob Coppinger

Module proves its readiness for launch later this year

The European Space Agency's Columbus module for the International Space Station (ISS) has passed its flight operations readiness review, keeping the laboratory on track for launch on Space Shuttle mission STS-122 in October or November.

Conducted by ESA, NASA, German aerospace centre DLR, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and industrial partners, the readiness review was carried out at ESA's Columbus control centre at Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich.

"Review topics included NASA Shuttle flight planning status, payload operations, Columbus generic flight rules, shared documentation, Columbus control centre status, ground controller training and certification [and] flight crew training," says ESA. The centre's readiness to support the Columbus mission 24h a day was one of the key areas examined.

The laboratory module itself has been at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida since late May last year. In March and April ESA and NASA technicians, aided by contractor personnel, will begin removing Columbus from its temporary storage.

ESA astronaut Hans Schlegel will fly aboard STS-122, also known as ISS Assembly Flight 1E, as the Columbus mission specialist overseeing the laboratory's integration with the space station. Schlegel's back-up is ESA astronaut Leopold Eyharts.