In an official announcement, NASA said that all prelaunch
preparations of space shuttle Endeavour are continuing to go smoothly. The
launch is scheduled at 2:28 a.m. EDT Tuesday, March 11.
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
