Background
In August 1973, NASA and ESRO (now European Space Agency or ESA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to build a science laboratory for use on Space Shuttle flights. Construction of Spacelab was started in 1974 by the ERNO (daughter of VFW-Fokker GmbH, after merger with MBB named MBB/ERNO, and since 2003 part of EADS SPACE Transportation). The first components produced, including lab module, LM1, were given to NASA free of charge by ESA in exchange for flight opportunities for European astronauts. A second module, LM2, was bought by NASA for its own use from ERNO.
Read more about this topic: Spacelab
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)