March 11th Targeted Launching for Endeavour STS-123
It looks as if NASA will be sending up a payload consisting of the first section of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory and the Canadian Space Agency’s two-armed robotic system, Dextre. The 122nd space shuttle flight, NASA’s Endeavour, STS-123, is planning on a launching at 2:31 a.m. on March 11th, 2008, through a ten-minute window on launch pad 39A.
The crew’s commander is veteran space flier Dominic L. Gorie, along with first spaceflight crew members Richard M. Linnehan, Robert L. Behnken, Garrett E. Reisman, Michael J. Foreman, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Takao Doi–all considered to be mission specialists. Gerrett Reisman is scheduled to join Expedition 16 as flight engineer after launching to the ISS on mission STS-123. Exchanging plans are for NASA’s Garrett Reisman to be delivered to the ISS complex while ESA’s Léopold Eyharts is returning to Earth.
JAXA’s laboratory will be the 2nd piece of the laboratory puzzle, once Atlanta’s launching is final with ESA’s laboratory completed on February 7, 2008.
JEM, short for the Japanese Experiment Module, is affectionately called Kibo in Japan–meaning “hope” in Japanese–and is Japan’s first human space facility, enhancing the International Space Station’s unique research capabilities in space. Japan’s laboratory is a pressurized module, and is 36.7 feet long, consisting of six components: two are research facilities–the Pressurized Module and the Exposed Facility; a special Logistics Module attached to each one of them; a Remote Manipulator System; and an Inter-Orbit Communication System unit. According to NASA, the component have a specially made scientific airlock through which the experiments can be safely transferred, preventing them from being exposed to the external environment of space.
JEM will be assembled in space over three space shuttle missions, with assembling flights 1J, 1-J/A, and 2- J/A. The Pressurized Model, or PM, will provide a shirt-sleeve environment for the astronauts to conduct microgravity experiments when in space, with a total of 23 racks (ten racks which are experimental) place inside the PM. These racks provide a power supply, communications, air conditioning, hardware cooling, water control, and experiment support functions.
Located outside the Pressurized Module is a unique platform called the Exposed Facility, or EF, which is continuously exposed to the space environment. The ISS astronauts will exchange experiment payloads from the PM through a scientific airlock, using the Kibo Remote Manipulator System. A focus on Earth observations are done through items positioned on the exterior platform, along with science experiments that involve communication, scientific, engineering, and materials.
March 11th Targeted Launching for Endeavour STS-123
It looks as if NASA will be sending up a payload consisting of the first section of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory and the Canadian Space Agency’s two-armed robotic system, Dextre. The 122nd space shuttle flight, NASA’s Endeavour, STS-123, is planning on a launching at 2:31 a.m. on March 11th, 2008, through a ten-minute window on launch pad 39A.
The crew’s commander is veteran space flier Dominic L. Gorie, along with first spaceflight crew members Richard M. Linnehan, Robert L. Behnken, Garrett E. Reisman, Michael J. Foreman, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Takao Doi–all considered to be mission specialists. Gerrett Reisman is scheduled to join Expedition 16 as flight engineer after launching to the ISS on mission STS-123. Exchanging plans are for NASA’s Garrett Reisman to be delivered to the ISS complex while ESA’s Léopold Eyharts is returning to Earth.
JAXA’s laboratory will be the 2nd piece of the laboratory puzzle, once Atlanta’s launching is final with ESA’s laboratory completed on February 7, 2008.
JEM, short for the Japanese Experiment Module, is affectionately called Kibo in Japan–meaning “hope” in Japanese–and is Japan’s first human space facility, enhancing the International Space Station’s unique research capabilities in space. Japan’s laboratory is a pressurized module, and is 36.7 feet long, consisting of six components: two are research facilities–the Pressurized Module and the Exposed Facility; a special Logistics Module attached to each one of them; a Remote Manipulator System; and an Inter-Orbit Communication System unit. According to NASA, the component have a specially made scientific airlock through which the experiments can be safely transferred, preventing them from being exposed to the external environment of space.
JEM will be assembled in space over three space shuttle missions, with assembling flights 1J, 1-J/A, and 2- J/A. The Pressurized Model, or PM, will provide a shirt-sleeve environment for the astronauts to conduct microgravity experiments when in space, with a total of 23 racks (ten racks which are experimental) place inside the PM. These racks provide a power supply, communications, air conditioning, hardware cooling, water control, and experiment support functions.
Located outside the Pressurized Module is a unique platform called the Exposed Facility, or EF, which is continuously exposed to the space environment. The ISS astronauts will exchange experiment payloads from the PM through a scientific airlock, using the Kibo Remote Manipulator System. A focus on Earth observations are done through items positioned on the exterior platform, along with science experiments that involve communication, scientific, engineering, and materials.
The other payload is the Canadian Space Agency’s Dextre, considered an essential tool for maintaining and servicing the International Space Station instead of the astronauts, controlled by the crew inside the space station. A dual-arm design, Dextre will precisely remove and replace smaller components on the exterior of the ISS–equipped with lights, video equipment, a tool platform and four tool holders. The four cameras will provide the inside crew with additional view of the designated work areas.
This entry was posted on Sunday, February 3rd, 2008 at 7:52 am and is filed under Space Agency News, Technical Concerns, The Gear to Get There. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
