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.



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.

[ESA]