Optical PAyload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) is covered in white thermal blankets awaiting integration with its launch vehicle at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. OPALS was launched to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on April 18, 2014.

OPALS is a partnership between NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; the International Space Station Program (Johnson Space Center, Houston; Kennedy Space Center, Fla., Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.) and the Advanced Exploration Systems Program (NASA HQ).

For more information, see http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/861.html.