Members of the STS-122 crew practice handling cameras that will be used during the mission.

In the Orbiter Processing Facility, members of the STS-122 crew practice handling cameras that will be used during the mission. With the camera is Mission Specialist Leland Melvin. At left is Mission Specialist Hans Schlegel, who represents the European Space Agency. The crew is at Kennedy Space Center to take part in a crew equipment interface test, which helps familiarize them with equipment and payloads for the mission. Among the activities standard to a CEIT are harness training, inspection of the thermal protection system and camera operation for planned extravehicular activities, or EVAs. The mission will carry and install the Columbus Lab, a multifunctional, pressurized laboratory that will be permanently attached to Node 2 of the space station to carry out experiments in materials science, fluid physics and biosciences, as well as to perform a number of technological applications. It is Europe’s largest contribution to the construction of the International Space Station and will support scientific and technological research in a microgravity environment. STS-122 is targeted for launch in December. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett