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The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations. Space Transportation Ariane Vega Space Rider Future space transportation Boost! Europe's Spaceport Launches from Europe's Spaceport from 2012 Node 2 is a pressurised module which serves as a connecting passage between the European Columbus laboratory, the US laboratory Destiny and the Japanese laboratory Kibo. Node 2 also provides a docking port for the discontinued Space Shuttle and the Japanese HII transfer vehicle, while it also served as an attachment point for the Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules. Node 2 is a working base point for the Space Station robotic arm, Canadarm 2. Node 2 was developed for NASA under an ESA contract with European industry, with Alcatel-Alenia Space as the prime contractor. Responsibility for Node 2 development was assigned to the Italian space agency, ASI. The structural design is based on that of the Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules and the European Columbus laboratory. NASA held a competition amongst schoolchildren in the United States to find a name for the Node 2 module. On 15 March 2007 the new name Harmony was announced. Node 2, or Harmony, was launched in October 2007 on Space Shuttle flight STS-120 (ISS Assembly Flight 10A).