NASA Looks at Next Space Station Component

The U.S. space agency said the next pressurized component of the International Space Station will be launched Dec. 6.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials said the European Space Agency’s Columbus module will be aboard space shuttle Atlantis when it lifts off from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Columbus will expand the space station’s research facilities, providing the space to conduct an expanded variety of life, physical and materials science experiments. It will be the ESA’s largest single contribution to the orbiting station.

The module is approximately 23 feet long and 15 feet wide, allowing it to hold 10 large racks of experiments, NASA said.