KSC-07pd3292

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- From inside the payload changeout room on Launch Pad 39A, the Columbus Laboratory module is being moved into space shuttle Atlantis' payload bay. The changeout room is the enclosed, environmentally controlled portion of the rotating service structure that supports cargo delivery to the pad and subsequent vertical installation into the orbiter payload bay. The lab module, built by the European Space Agency, also known as ESA, is approximately 23 feet long and 15 feet wide, allowing it to hold 10 large racks of experiments. Columbus is ESA's largest single contribution to the space station. Columbus will fly to the International Space Station on mission STS-122. The launch is targeted for Dec. 6. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett