The U.S. Laboratory provides equipment for research and technology development. It also houses all the necessary systems to support a laboratory environment and control the US Segment. This module has a capacity of 24 rack locations. Payload racks will occupy 13 locations especially designed to support experiments. These racks will be transported to the ISS by the shuttle as cargo integrated into the Mini-Pessurized Logistics Module (MPLM) and transferred to the U.S. Laboratory during joint shuttle/station operations. |