Image above: STS-124 Commander Mark Kelly works inside the Quest airlock with Expedition 17 Commander Sergei Volkov. Photo credit: NASA TV
NASA MISSION UPDATE
Mission specialists Mike Fossum and Ron Garan are scheduled to kick off STS-124’s first spacewalk at 11:32 a.m. EDT. During the 6-½ hour excursion, the pair will retrieve a shuttle inspection tool, service and inspect components of a solar alpha rotary joint and prepare the largest component of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory for installation on the International Space Station.
The spacewalkers’ first task is to transfer the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) from the station’s truss to space shuttle Discovery. The OBSS, which attaches to the shuttle’s robotic arm for detailed inspection of the shuttle’s heat shield, was left at the station for STS-124 during the previous shuttle mission to provide room for the giant Kibo module in Discovery’s payload bay.
Next, the spacewalkers will prepare Kibo’s Japanese Pressurized Module (JPM) for installation. After inspecting the common berthing mechanism on the Harmony Node’s left side and opening a window cover, Fossum and Garan will work together in the shuttle’s cargo bay to remove contamination covers from the JPM’s docking surfaces. Fossum will also disconnect heater cables and remove locking bolts from the shutters of the JPM’s forward window.
Continue reading ‘Discovery Docks at Station, Astronauts Prepare for Spacewalk’
Over at Flight Global, Rob Coppinger looks at the logistical challenges that lie ahead for the International Space Station over the next several years as the facility grows and the space shuttle is retired.
The challenges include completing construction of the Japanese Kibo module, expanding the station’s crew size to six, and keeping the facility supplied with a combination of American, Russian, European and Japanese cargo freighters.
With the first part of its Kibo module delivered to the International Space Station, Japanese space officials are becoming more assertive as they face growing expectations to make good on their 20-year-old commitment to the orbiting laboratory, the Yomiuri Shimbun reports.
“Though Japan is the last of the participating nations to have a facility attached to the ISS, the country is now a full-fledged member of the spacefaring community, and no longer needs to feel shy about pushing its own agenda vis-a-vis the United States, Russia, the European Union and other member nations,” staff writers Koichi Yasuda and Makoto Mitsui report.
They have an interesting account of a disagreement that occurred between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) as Takao Doi and his colleagues were connecting the module to ISS during the recent Endeavour flight.
Continue reading ‘Japan Becomes More Assertive as ISS Role, Expectations Grow’
This should be the best of times in space for Japan. The first section of the nation’s Kibo module was successfully attached to the International Space Station last week. Videos of a smiling Takao Doi floating weightless in the new module were beamed down to a proud nation.
However, Japan finds itself at a bit of a crossroads. In an article titled Space development proves financial black hole, Yomiuri Shimbun staff writer Keiko Chino explores efforts by Japanese policymakers to chart a course for the country amid widespread discontent with falling government space spending and skepticism over its 1 trillion yen, 20-year investment in the space station.
The Liberal Democratic Party launched a full-scale review of space policy in February. Last year, the party submitted a bill calling for “the establishment of a space development strategy headquarters, to be chaired by the prime minister, to allow the country to conduct research aimed at industrial and security purposes,” Chino reports.
Continue reading ‘The Best of Times, the Worst of Times (Japan)’
Credit: NASA
As the first section of the Japanese Kibo module is attached to the International Space Station this week, Air & Space Magazine takes an in-depth look at the country’s small but ambitious human spaceflight program.
Former NASA astronaut Dan Berry talks with Japanese astronauts and space agency officials about their goals for the future and the cultural challenges they face in working with Americans and other members of the space station program.
Japanese astronaut Takao Doi remarks on the opening of the the Japanese Logistics Module. Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson is at right. Credit: NASA TV
NASA PRESS RELEASE
Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson and Japanese astronaut Takao Doi were the first to enter the Japanese Logistics Module - Pressurized Section (JLP). Marking the beginning of Japan’s scientific work aboard the station, the new module was opened module at 9:23 p.m. EDT Friday. The STS-123 and Expedition 16 crews continue transferring supplies and equipment into the JLP from space shuttle Endeavour.
The JLP is the first component of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory.
Operating Canadarm2, the station’s robot arm, Mission Specialists Robert Behnken and Léopold Eyharts grabbed the shuttle’s boom sensor and handed it off to Endeavour’s robot arm in preparation for stowage on the station’s S1 truss later in the mission.
The station’s arm operators grappled the Canadian-built Dextre at 9:59 p.m. Friday. Canadarm2 successfully powered up Dextre 11 minutes later.
When Dextre was removed from Endeavour’s cargo bay after the shuttle docked to the station, ground teams ran into problems routing power to the pallet on which the robot is being assembled. The teams tried troubleshooting the problem with a software patch early Friday morning, but were not successful.
STS-123 Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan and Mike Foreman will spend the night in the station’s Quest Airlock in preparation for the second spacewalk of the mission, which begins Saturday. The purpose of this “camp out” is to purge the nitrogen from their bodies before their planned exit at 8:23 p.m. Saturday. Linnehan and Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman completed the mission’s first spacewalk early Friday morning.
The Space Shuttle Endeavour lifted off early Tuesday morning on a 16-day mission to the deliver equipment to the International Space Station. The 2:28 a.m. liftoff brightened the darkened skies over the Kennedy Space Center and could be seen along the East Coast of the United States.
The seven-member crew will deliver a Japanese supply module as well as a Canadian robot named Dextre, which is designed to perform routine maintenance on the station’s exterior.
NASA officials say the shuttle is performing well.
When the space shuttle Endeavour lifts off next week, it will carry the first part of a sophisticated Japanese module as well as a Canadian robot to the International Space Station.
Japanese astronaut Takao Doi will help set up the Kibo, a storage module that is the first of three components of the Japanese Hope laboratory. The 4-meter (14-foot) long Kibo is built to fit eight racks of equipment.
“It may feel a little bit small inside,” Doi said. “It’s a little bit bigger than a [small] walk-in closet.”
The seven-member crew also will deliver the Canadian Space Agency’s Dextre robot, which astronauts will use for maintenance purposes on the exterior of the space station. Astronauts inside the station or on the ground will be able to use the robot for routine tasks now done during spacewalks.
MSNBC has more information about Kibo, Dextre and the flight here and here.
