Europe's space module takes step closer to launch

[tocqueville]

Tue May 2, 1:48 PM ET

BREMEN, Germany (AFP) - Engineers formally handed over the Columbus science module, the European Space Agency's biggest contribution to the problem-dogged International Space Station (ISS).

The 13-tonne lab was transferred to ESA at a ceremony attended in this northern German city, where a small army of technicians had spent four years fitting out its shell with control, communications and research equipment.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised the scheme as a "fascinating example" of European cooperation in hi-tech.

Columbus, in gestation for 10 years and costing around a billion euros (1.25 billion dollars), is designed to enable European scientists to carry out research in Earth's orbit

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060502/sc_afp/spaceeuropeiss_060502174807

[Democrats_win]

1. Cool. "zero" gravity experiments.