KSC-98pc883

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- KSC personnel watch as workers at the Shuttle Landing Facility begin unloading the canister containing the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), the Leonardo, from the Airbus Beluga transporter. Leonardo is scheduled to be launched on STS-100 in December 1999. The modules are being provided by Alenia Aerospazio, in Italy, and will be operated by NASA and supported by ASI, the Italian space agency. The MPLMs will be carried in the payload bay of a Shuttle orbiter, and will provide storage and additional work space for up to two astronauts when docked to the International Space Station. The second MPLM, to be handed over in April 1999, is named Raffaello. A third module, to be named Donatello, is due to be delivered in October 2000 for launch in January 2001