It's hard to make out what this contraption is, but it is actually an apparatus that allowed astronauts to experiment with fluids in space.
![](https://fooyoh.com/files/attach/images/1098/064/256/009/spacemachine1.jpg)
Called the Fluid Physics Module, it was hand-built in Italy, and flew on the first ever mission of the European Spacelab in 1983. Astronauts could observe and manipulate up to a liter of liquid whilst in space.
It was on the European-built space laboratory that was aboard the Space Shuttle between 1983 and 1998.
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ESA]