Europe in Space

The US space shuttle Atlantis, to be launched from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, is to deliver a European-built space laboratory named Columbus to the International Space Station (ISS) beginning Thursday.

Until now, only the United States and Russia have had their own laboratories at the ISS.

"We have never had a permanent base in space before and I see this as a first step for Europe in real spaceflight activities," Leopold Eyharts, a French astronaut who works for the European Space Agency (ESA), told AFP news agency.

Eyharts is a member of the Atlantis crew and will remain at the ISS for two and a half months to prepare Columbus for future scientific work.

Europe becoming key space player

His German colleague, Hans Schlegel, also an ESA astronaut and a member of the Atlantis crew, said the mission will be "a tremendous

step," as quoted by AFP.

Schlegel told DPA new service that the mission marks Europe's entrance into permanent operations in space. He also said there would be a lot at stake for German science.

"We are becoming a more important partner for the international spaceflight community," he said.

ESA's lab, primarily built by EADS-Astrium in Bremen, Germany, was supposed to go into operation in 2004. But when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere in 2003, killing all seven astronauts on board, shuttle flights were suspended.

Skeptics wanted to dismiss the project, which would have meant a loss of the 880 million euros ($1.3 billion) already invested in it.

Until now, the Americans have primarily called the shots at the ISS, which is orbiting Earth 400 (246 miles) kilometers over head.

That is soon to change with the arrival of the 13-ton Columbus module, which is considered a jewel of science.

A variety of experiments possible

According to DPA, it has seven different racks that can be used for various types of research, including medical and material experiments ranging from the study of single-cell organisms and invertebrates to the basic physics of fluids.

"Only the core question is the same in all the experiments. What happens in zero gravity?" Columbus chief engineer Rüdiger Kledzik told DPA.

Such scientific experiments with microgravity are considered key to prepare humankind for living and working in space and for subsequent journeys toward Mars and elsewhere.

Some experiments look at the loss of bone and muscle deterioration in zero gravity. For instance, DPA said one expert who pointed out that in the weightlessness of space, humans lose 10 percent of their muscle mass per month.

Researchers on the Columbus will attempt to use the time-lapse effect to address two issues: to better understand how to fight diseases such as osteoporosis and to gain knowledge about future space flights that could last several months.

A flight to Mars and back would take around two years, for example. The problem of muscle and bone loss must be solved such a mission can take place, the expert said.

Columbus will allow astronauts to conducts hundreds of experiments each year.

German space center to control Columbus

The Japanese also plan to send their own laboratory, called the Kibo, which is to bet he fourth component at the ISS, and the largest and most sophiscated at all. It will be delivered in three different parts, with the first one scheduled for February 2008.

For the 11-day Atlantis mission and delivery of Columbus, three spacewalks are planned, two of which German astronaut Schlegel will perfom. Another astronaut, Rex Walheim, will aid Schlegel in attaching Columbus to one of the ISS's modules.

During another spacewalk by Walheim and American Stanley Coils, two research platforms will also be set up.

Construction of Columbus has cost cost to two billion euros, with Germany the biggest contributor to the project -- covering 41 percent of the total costs. Italy contributed 23 percent and France 18 percent respectively. Altogether, 10 European have participated in the project.

A German space operations center in Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich, will be controlling Columbus.