The lab, which took 10 years to complete, will be
shipped to Cape Canaveral in the U.S. state of Florida at the end of the month,
and is scheduled to be flown aboard a space shuttle to the station in the
second half of next year.
The US $1.1 billion (euro880 million) project was led
by the Space Transportations unit of the European Aeronautic Defence &
Space Co., and involved some 40 firms from 10 EU countries.
Included in
the costs was $71 million (euro56 million) to establish the Columbus Control Centre outside of
Munich in Oberpfaffenhofen, ESA official Dieter Isakeit said. The center was
completed in 2004 and will control operations of the European elements of the
space station.
Chancellor
Angela Merkel, who attended a ceremony in Bremen marking the successful
construction of the lab, said the project is indicative of Germany"s
commitment to the European space program.
"It is
a small, but important sector where a country like Germany, which is known as a
land of high technology and leading science, stands up very, very well."
Earth-based
scientific researchers, with the help of space station astronauts, will be able
to conduct experiments in the weightlessness of orbit during its planned
10-year operational lifetime, the ESA said.
The nearly
15-foot (4.5-meter) diameter cylindrical module provides 2,650 cubic feet (75
cubic meters) of space to house an entire suite of science laboratories.
It can
house 10 payload racks, each the size of a telephone booth and is able to host
its own autonomous and independent laboratory, complete with power and cooling
systems, and video and data links back to researchers.
It is
designed for three astronauts to work inside comfortably together at the same
time, Isakeit said.
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