Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off for Columbus Mission (STS-122)

Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, carrying the European Columbus laboratory, ESA’s advanced science laboratory in space, to the International Space Station (ISS). Columbus was on board NASA’s Space Shuttle Atlantis when it lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida at 20:45 CET on 7 February 2008. For this one-way trip to Earth orbit, Columbus is in the expert hands of a crew of seven astronauts, including two members of the European astronaut corps: Léopold Eyharts of France and Hans Schlegel of Germany.