Columbus Science SpaceOps News will start a series of publications : “SpaceOps meets Science” - see links below which attempts to familiarize the operations community with the nature and achievements of the scientific experiments on board the European Columbus module of the ISS. The Columbus laboratory was attached to the ISS during the STS-122  “1E Mission” on 11th February 2008. Since the installation of the payload racks 2 days later, on13th of February, experiments are conducted on board using the activated multipurpose facilities.

The Columbus Payload racks are (visible side):
>    European Drawer Rack (EDR) 
>    Material Science Glove Box (MSG) and the
>    Human Research Facility (HFR1) leaving a space for
      one more (future) rack between MSG and HRF1. 

Opposite are (not visible) 
>    Express Rack 3, BIOLAB, European Physiology Module (EPM) and HRF2.

The “bottom” area contains the 
>    System and life support racks and additional storage room.

The ceiling houses the 
>    Fluid Science Lab (FSL) and additional storage racks.

In the aft-cone section the video equipment for Columbus is mounted.
For further Columbus configuration information refer to:

http://www.esa.int/esaHS/ESAFRG0VMOC_iss_0.html

http://www.esa.int/esaHS/ESAAYI0VMOC_iss_0.html

The following two articles deal with the first experiments conducted in the
European Columbus laboratory after delivery to the ISS.

>    SpaceOps meets Science: WAICO

>    SpaceOps meets Science: GeoFlow

 Please feel free to contact me if you have any comments: joachimkehr@opsjournal.org
Joachim. J. Kehr Editor SpaceOps News