One of the experiments housed on the European Columbus laboratory’s external platform is an automated eye in the sky known as the Earth Viewing Camera (EVC). Now, after several weeks of troubleshooting by the EVC team in the Netherlands, the first pictures from the orbiting camera have arrived safely back on Earth.

The U.S. Space Shuttle Atlantis is back on earth after delivering a new laboratory to the International Space Station. VOA's Michael Bowman has details from Washington.

Columbus, ESA’s advanced science laboratory in space, has just been launched into orbit and is now on its way to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).

Atlantis finally blasted off Thursday afternoon carrying Europe’s Clumbus lab to the International Space Station. The cost of the laboratory is evaluated at $2 billion. The launch finally became possible after two months of technical delays.

Whose law will apply when Europe’s Columbus space laboratory joins the US-led International Space Station in December? And what happens if astronauts from different countries get into a fight?