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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory is a micro-gravity research facility which aims to open a vital new stage in deeper space exploration. With its installation, Japan gains a foothold on the ISS alongside the United States, Russia and Europe, whose laboratory Columbus was delivered to the station in February. Kibo's pressurized module, the larger cylindrical heart of the lab that will allow astronauts to work and conduct experiments in a shirt-sleeves environment, is to arrive on space shuttle Discovery due to launch May 25. The final Kibo installment, an inter-orbit communications system unit called the Exposed Facility, is due for delivery in March 2009. The mission's fourth spacewalk will see specialists Robert Behnken and Mike Foreman conduct a space shuttle thermal shield repair demonstration using a device similar to a caulk gun. Protecting the shuttle's thermal tiles is of particularly concern since the space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003. Columbia disintegrated re-entering Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven on board, because its thermal shield had been damaged when it was struck by a piece of debris during launch. The 16-day mission for Endeavor is the longest mission at the space station and will conduct five spacewalks totaling some 30 hours of work. Related Links: |
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