"That's where wereally verify that the orbiter is safe to come home," Cain said. Perhaps more importantly, however,astronauts will scope for thermal shield damage with the space shuttle'ssensor-tipped inspection boom. "I think it should be pretty spectacular." "We're somewhathampered because of the night launch," LeRoy Cain, chair of NASA's missionmanagement team Sunday, but noted that the flash unit should be a boon topost-launch inspections. Such debris can damage theheat-resistant underbelly of a space shuttle, but Endeavour is using a newcamera flash system for the first time that will help technicians betterexamine the shuttle's disposable 15-story tank after launch. NASA temporarily halted night launches because it'sdifficult to spot errant chunks of ice or insulation that can shed from the external fuel tank. The predawn launch is onlythe second after-dark flight in five years - the latest was shuttle Discovery'slaunch in late 2006. Today's successful liftoff isthe second of six flights NASA planned for an ambitious 2008 launch schedule,and marks the 122nd space shuttle mission, the 25th flight to the space stationand Endeavour's 21st launch. The STS-123crew will also spend two other days outside the airlock to test heat-resistant tilerepair methods and replace bearings in a damaged solar array joint. "Some people have been working onthis program more than 25 years, it's just unbelievable." "Forthe first time we'll have representatives from four nations from Russia, from the U.S., from Europe and from Japan," Doi said of the JLP's installation, callinghis own participation a dream come true. It's pretty wild."īefore Dextre is put together outside of the ISS, however, astronauts willinstall the Japanese Logistics Pressurized (JLP) module - that nation'sfirst room in space, and the first of three Kibo laboratory components. He's got two big arms and he's got all these appendages and tools toplug in. "He's massive and crawls around thestation. "Dextreis 'Gigantor the Space Age Robot,' is what I think," said Linnehan, who willpartake in the device's assembly. The Canadian Space Agency built the new robot to help relieve station astronauts of the more routine maintenance work outside the ISS. WhenEndeavour docks at the space station late Wednesday, the crew will quickly get towork by retrieving pieces of a massiverobot named Dextre with the shuttle's robotic arm.Īstronauts areslated to spend two spacewalking days assembling the 1.72-ton robot, which willuse two 11-foot (3.4-meter) arms, gripper-like "hands" and a toolbelt to gently replace failed components outside the space station. "We'retaking him to the space station and we're going to leave him there." "He is our mostprecious payload," Johnson said of Reisman prior to launch. He will relieve European Space Agency (ESA) astronautLeopold Eyharts, who will return home on board Endeavour. Reisman will stay aboard the ISS as a member of the Expedition 16 and 17 spacestation crews. The launch marks the first spaceflight Johnson, Behnken, Foreman and Reisman. Johnson, mission specialists Robert Behnken,Mike Foreman, Rick Linnehan, Garrett Reisman and Japanese astronaut Takao Doi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Riding aboard the orbiterwith Gorie are pilot Gregory H.
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