Press Release
No.15-2006
Paris, 24 April 2006

European Columbus laboratory for the International Space Station ready for
delivery

The Columbus laboratory is Europe's cornerstone contribution to the
International Space Station. Final integration has been successfully
completed in Bremen. Columbus will be shipped to Cape Canaveral at the end
of May, from where it will be flown on a Space Shuttle to the ISS in the
second half of 2007.

During its planned 10-year operational lifetime, scientific researchers in
Europe, with the help of the astronauts onboard and a Europe-wide support
infrastructure on the ground, will be able to conduct a vast programme of
experiments in the areas of the life and physical sciences, materials
science, fundamental physics and technology research.

ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain and EADS SPACE Transportation
President Evert Dudok are inviting leading figures from industry, research
institutes, space agencies and government institutions involved in the
programme, together with political representatives and the media, to attend
a ceremony to celebrate the completion of Columbus development on 2 May,
starting at 10:00, at EADS SPACE Transportation in Bremen, Germany.
Chancellor Angela Merkel will be attending the event and addressing the
participants.

The ceremony will be followed at 12:15 by a press conference given by a
panel including ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA Council Chair
and Chair of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) Sigmar
Wittig, NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale and EADS SPACE Transportation
President Evert Dudok. Journalists will also have the opportunity to
conduct individual interviews with the panellists and other key contributors
to the ISS programme after the press conference, and to visit the Columbus
laboratory in small groups in the EADS clean room, its present location.

The venue for the event is within walking distance of Bremen airport. Media
representatives wishing to attend the ceremony and the media programme are
requested to fill in the attached form and return it to the ESA Media
Relations Division.


For further information, please contact:

Franco Bonacina
ESA Media Relations Division
Directorate of External Relations
Paris, France
Tel: +33 1 5369 7155
Fax: +33 1 5369 7690

Dieter Isakeit
Erasmus User Centre and Communication Office
Directorate of Human Spaceflight, Microgravity and Exploration
Noordwijk, Netherlands
Tel: +31 71 565 5451
Fax: +31 71 565 8008


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.nl