Atlantis spent a week flying jointly with the station, where it successfully installed a new 8t, 6m-long Russian Mini-Research Module 1 Rassvet (Dawn) packed with 1.5t of Nasa cargo.

BBC: Atlantis set for 'final' return

Oh, how the times have changed... its final mission saw Atlantis successfully deliver the Russian Mini-Research Module Rassvet to the ISS. She'll be prepped one last time to stand-by as a rescue ship for the upcoming (and final) missions of Endeavor and Discovery, but Atlantis' days in space are likely over.

ENGADGET: Space Shuttle Atlantis ends its run of predicting disaster for other NASA shuttles

As the Committee knows, NASA did not pursue any of those options, but just last year was able to proceed with the development of the Interim Control Module that the Naval Research Lab was responsible for developing.

WHITEHOUSE: Jacob J. Lew Testimony to House Science Committee, 08/06/1998 | The White House

Europe's Columbus space lab arrived last month, joining Nasa's own research base at the station, a module called Destiny that has been in space since 2001.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Endeavour launched from Florida

The French version of the module was produced by the Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) with financial support from the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and UNESCO.

UNESCO: Communication and Information

While much agricultural research has been devoted to increasing the quality and quantity of cotton production, the USDA at the same time has been actively involved in research to find creative and profitable uses for everything else that arrives in the module.

NPR: Texas Cotton: 'Farmer Profits at Every Step'

Vasily Moroz from the Russian Space Research Centre said the two sides had considered using a US-built probe with a Russian booster rocket and descent module, but that the project was drawn to a halt by funding issues.

BBC: Mars rover (Nasa)