Europe's space station lab arrives in Florida

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla, June 3 (Reuters) NASA welcomed Europe's International Space Station laboratory Columbus to the shuttle launch site in Florida, hoping its stay in a hangar filled with gear awaiting rides to space won't be long.

The 26-foot-(8-metre-) long cylindrical module is the heart of the European Space Agency's contribution to the 100-billion dollars space station. Construction of the outpost has been on hold since the 2003 shuttle Columbia accident and subsequent grounding of the shuttle fleet for safety upgrades.

NASA wanted to resume assembly last year, but problems during the first post-Columbia shuttle mission in July prompted another suspension of flights. The agency is preparing for its next shuttle launch next month.

If all goes as planned, station assembly could resume as early as August.

''This will not be an easy task for this team,'' NASA's space station program manager Bill Gerstenmaier said during a Columbus welcoming ceremony at the Kennedy Space Centre. ''It is the largest task we have ever done.'' NASA needs to fly 16 missions to the space station to finish assembly and must do so before the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010.

The processing hangar that now houses Columbus is stocked with trusses, solar power arrays, a connecting node and Japan's massive laboratory, Kibo. So far the only lab that has made it into orbit is the United States' Destiny module.

Three more Japanese components, another connection node and an addition to the station's Canadian-built robot arm are still to come.

''It's pretty full in here already,'' said Gerstenmaier. Sixteen nations participate in the space station project.

Columbus is scheduled for launch in September 2007.

''That's the last, but most important part of its journey,'' said ESA's Alan Thirkettle.

The module, which spans about 15 feet (4.5 metres) in diameter, will be inspected to make sure it made its transatlantic journey safely, then moved into a vacuum chamber for leak checks. By March, technicians will begin preparing the module for launch.

REUTERS SI BST0954