William Gerstenmaier welcomes the delivery of the European Space Agency's Columbus module at a ceremony in the Space Station Processing Facility.

William Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for Space Operations, welcomes the delivery of the European Space Agency's Columbus module at a ceremony in the Space Station Processing Facility. Columbus is the European Space Agency's research laboratory for the International Space Station. The module will be prepared in the SSPF for delivery to the space station on a future space shuttle mission. Columbus will expand the research facilities of the station and provide researchers with the ability to conduct numerous experiments in the life, physical and materials sciences. Photo credit: NASA/Amanda Diller