SPACEPHOTOS

ISS ESA COF ART CONCEPT --- This artist's concept depicts the European Space Agency's (ESA) Columbus Orbital Facility (COF) laboratory attached to the International Space Station (ISS). Scheduled to be launched in 2002, the ESA laboratory will join a complex of five other international laboratories aboard the station. A project involving contributions from 16 nations, the station is the largest and most complex international scientific project ever undertaken. Along with the European Space Agency (ESA), major partners in the ISS are the United States (NASA), Russia (RSA), Japan (NASDA), and Canada (CSA). Assembly in orbit of the station will begin in 1998 and include 45 flights on the Space Shuttle and two types of Russian launch vehicles over five years. When complete, the ISS will have a mass of more than 1 million pounds (453,000 kilograms) and provide six state-of-the-art laboratories for international research.