KSC-00pp1459

In the Space Station Processing Facility, STS-100 Commander Kent Rominger (left) tries out a piece of equipment while a worker (center) gives directions. Looking on at right is Mission Specialist Umberto Guidoni, with the European Space Agency. Mission STS-100, scheduled to launch April 19, 2001, will include Raffaello as well as the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) as its payload. MPLMs are pressurized modules that will serve as the International Space Station's “moving vans,” carrying laboratory racks filled with equipment, experiments and supplies to and from the station aboard the Space Shuttle. The SSRMS is the primary means of transferring payloads between the orbiter payload bay and the International Space Station for assembly