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Liftoff!

Europe’s Columbus laboratory leaves Earth

7 February 2008 - Columbus, ESA’s advanced science laboratory in space, has just been launched into orbit and is now on its way to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).

Columbus was onboard NASA’s Space Shuttle Atlantis when it lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida at 20:45 CET today. For this one-way trip to Earth orbit, Columbus is in the expert hands of a crew of seven astronauts, including two members of the European astronaut corps: Léopold Eyharts of France and Hans Schlegel of Germany. Read more...

Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja 2008