In the late-1980s, Europe began work on an ambitious human spaceflight campaign that comprised the Columbus space station module, a free-flying laboratory called the Man-Tended Free-Flyer (MTFF) and the Hermes spaceplane. These elements would provide the building blocks for a potential European Space Station under a European Space Agency (ESA) programme entitled the European Manned Space Infrastructure. This technical proposal to ESA envisioned a compact station based on these elements, already under development. Designed for three-person crews, it comprised modules berthed to a spherical node in X, Y and Z axes of orientation (image far right). Assembly phasing (three images below) enabled the station to function as a laboratory from the first mission onwards. Dual means of access and escape existed at every assembly phase for safety. There were four principal modules: two for science, one for habitation and one for resources. The science modules had their own resource units with mountings for solar arrays. Also included were an airlock/EVA module, the central spherical node and two ports for emergency crew return vehicles. A separate docking port was provided for the Hermes spaceplane. An external truss supported external experiments served by a robotic arm. The Ariane-5, Europe's main launch vehicle at the time, would launch all the elements in just seven missions. Reductions to ESA's budget in the 1990s resulted in the cancellation of the MTFF and Hermes and ESA abandoned the European Manned Space Infrastructure programme. However, the Columbus module went ahead as a major element of Europe's contribution to the International Space Station.

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