Japanese hopes ride on Discovery
May 31, 2008
The Discovery orbiter is set for launch from the Kennedy Space Center on a 14-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
The shuttle and its crew of seven will deliver the main section of Japan’s science lab known as Kibo, or “Hope”.
Discovery’s flight is the third orbiter mission of 2008 and the first to fly the “in-line” external fuel tank.
The mission will take up a new pump to repair the station’s toilet that has failed in the Zvezda service module.
The toilet failed last week, and the ISS crew have had to flush the unit manually - an operation which takes two people 10 minutes to do.
A replacement pump was rushed from Russia to be loaded onto Discovery for delivery to the ISS.
Lift-off is timed for 1702 local time in Florida (2102 GMT).
Orbital juggling
The new fuel tank has been built from the ground up with the upgrades demanded after the Columbia disaster.
The improvements are designed to minimise the shedding of insulation foam on launch - the problem that doomed Columbia and her crew in 2003.
All missions prior to Discovery’s have had the upgrades retrofitted on to tanks that were already constructed.
The US space agency Nasa is describing the latest shuttle venture as one of the most complex yet undertaken.
The primary task will be to install the Japanese Pressurised Module (JPM).
ISS astronauts will be relieved to get their toilet working properly again
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This 11.2m-long (36.7ft), 14.8-tonne (32,600lbs) cylinder is the third science laboratory intended for the orbiting platform, after the US Destiny and European Columbus segments.
The JPM is so big all its experimental equipment was sent up on the previous shuttle flight in a unit called the Japanese Logistics Module (JLM).
Once the main Kibo section is attached to the ISS’s Harmony connecting node, the JLM can be moved from its temporary berth and slotted directly on to the larger Japanese unit.
All of the pressurised module’s internal systems and payload racks can then be transferred across to it.
A 10m-long (33ft) robotic arm is also travelling up with the Discovery for use on Kibo. This arm will play a key role when the third and final section of the scientific complex is taken up in 2009.
This is a “terrace” exposed to outer space. The arm will be used to position and retrieve experiments placed on this platform.
‘To infinity…’
Three spacewalks, of some 6.5 hours each, are currently planned for Discovery’s mission, mainly for setting up the Kibo equipment.
Astronauts will also deliver a nitrogen gas tank and inspect damage to a key joint that helps the station’s power-generating solar arrays to follow the Sun.
Buzz Lightyear in front of Kennedy’s giant Vehicle Assembly Building
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Discovery is carrying a special guest on the flight - the famous space ranger Buzz Lightyear. The 30cm-tall (12in) action figure, made famous in the Disney/Pixar Toy Story movies, is going into orbit as part of an educational programme aimed at encouraging children to pursue science studies.
Nasa hopes to get two more shuttle flights in before the end of the year.
Following Discovery’s mission, the next outing will be for Atlantis which is scheduled to go to the Hubble space telescope to repair and upgrade its systems.
Nine further shuttle flights are required to complete the ISS before the orbiter fleet is retired in 2010.
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