Columbus Orbital Facility simulator at ESTEC

A high-fidelity mock-up of ESA's Columbus Orbital Facility (COF) is installed in the Erasmus building at ESTEC in The Netherlands to provide engineers, scientists and users with experience of the International Space Station (ISS) module. At right is the Biolab facility for biological research; at left is the Material Science Laboratory. The mock-up will form part of the Space Station User Information Centre in Erasmus. COF is planned for launch aboard the Space Shuttle in late 2002 to be attached to the ISS. [Image Date: 1997/12] [97.12.014-036]