Endeavour's crew includes Commander Dominic Gorie, Pilot Gregory Johnson and Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan, Robert Behnken, Mike Foreman and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's, Takao Doi. Reisman will stay aboard the station, trading places with European Space Agency astronaut Léopold Eyharts, who will return to Earth with the crew of Endeavour.

Endeavour is launching with the expectation of staying in space for 16 days, and there are always extra days set aside in case weather or a technical problem delays landing.

NASA officials said, that according to the launch schedule, at 6 a.m. Monday the gantry-like rotating service structure that provides the primary access and weather protection for the vehicle will be retracted and fueling the external tank begins at 5:03 p.m.

Fueling should be complete by 8 p.m. and Endeavour's crew is expected to begin strapping in for launch just after 11 p.m. Monday. Endeavour is expected to return to Kennedy Space Center, March 26 at 8:35 p.m. ET.

The crew will deliver the first section of the Japanese-built Kibo laboratory and the Canadian Space Agency's two-armed robotic system called Dextre. The Canadian Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator weighs approximately 3400 pounds. It is 12 feet high and 7.7 feet wide. Each arm extends 11 feet.

With advanced stabilization and handling capabilities, Dextre can perform delicate human-scale tasks such as removing and replacing small exterior components.  Operated by crew members inside the station or by flight controllers on the ground, it also is equipped with lights, video equipment, a stowage platform, and three robotic tools.

Currently, astronauts execute many tasks that can only be performed during long, arduous, and potentially dangerous spacewalks.  Delivery of Dextre increases crew safety and reduces the amount of time that astronauts must spend outside the station or routine maintenance. They should therefore have more time for scientific activities. Some of the many tasks Dextre will perform include installing and removing small payloads such as batteries, power switching units, and computers, providing power to payloads and manipulating, installing, and removing scientific payloads 

Kibo (pronounced key‐boh means“hope”)  is Japan’s first human-rated space facility. Kibo will be the largest experiment module on the space station, accommodating 31 racks in its pressurized section, including experiment, stowage, and system racks.  Kibo is equipped with external facilities that can accommodate 10 exposed experiment payloads.

Kibo is a complex facility that enables several kinds of specialized functions.  In total, Kibo consists of:  Pressurized Module (PM) and Exposed Facility (EF), a logistics module attached to both the PM and EF and a Remote Manipulator System– Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS.)

To make maximum use of its limited space, Kibo possesses every function required to perform experiment activities in space:  the pressurized and exposed sections, a scientific airlock in the PM, and a remote manipulator system that enables operation of exposed experiments without the assistance of a spacewalking crew.

The Kibo elements will be delivered to the space station by three space shuttle flights. STS-123 will deliver the ELM-PS, STS-124 will deliver the PM and JEMRMS, and STS-127 will deliver the EF and the Experiment Logistics Module–Exposed Section (ELM‐ES).

For each of the three missions, a JAXA astronaut will fly to the station to assist with the assembly, activation, and checkout of the Kibo component.  Astronaut Takao Doi is assigned as a NASA mission specialist for the STS‐123 mission. 

Image Credit: NASA