Space shuttle Discovery’s STS-124 mission is the second of three flights that will launch components to complete the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory. The shuttle crew will install Kibo’s large Japanese Pressurized Module, or JPM, and its remote manipulator system, or RMS. The RMS consists of two robotic arms that support operations outside of Kibo. The lab's logistics module, which was installed in a temporary location during STS-123 in March, will be attached to the new lab. Discovery's 13-day flight carries the heaviest payload to the station and will include three spacewalks. The shuttle also will deliver a new crew member and bring back another one after a three-month mission.

SPACEWALKS Each will last approximately 6.5 hours.
• On flight day 4, Garan and Fossum will transfer the Orbiter Boom Sensor System back to
the shuttle from its temporary location of the station’s truss, or backbone. The crew will then
prepare the JPM for its removal from the shuttle’s payload bay. Later that day, the JPM will
be installed on the port side of Harmony.
• On flight day 6, Garan and Fossum will install covers and external television equipment on
the JPM and remove covers on the RMS, which will be deployed on flight day 8. The spacewalkers
also will prepare for the flight day 7 relocation of the Japanese logistics module.
• On flight day 9, Garan and Fossum will primarily work to replace a failed nitrogen tank assembly
on the station’s truss with a spare that was temporarily stored on one of the station
external stowage platforms. They also will retrieve a failed camera system on the truss.

FACTS & FIGURES
• STS-124 is the 123nd space shuttle flight, the 26th flight to the station, the 35th flight for Discovery and the third flight in 2008.
• The Kibo laboratory—which means “hope” in Japanese—is the country’s major contribution to
the station and will enhance the research capabilities of the space station.
• The JPM will be the largest habitable module on the space station and is equipped with its
own airlock and robotic arm for external experiments.
• The final components of Kibo will be assembled in space on shuttle missions STS-127.
• The RMS Main Arm can handle up to 14,000 pounds of hardware and the Small Fine Arm, when attached to the Main Arm, handles more delicate operations. Each arm has six joints that mimic the movements of a human arm.
• The JPM is 36.7 feet long and 14.4 feet in diameter, about the size of a large tour bus.
• The main arm measures 32.5 feet long and the small fine arm measures 6.2 feet.
• It will be the first time that three different robotic arms will be operated during a single
spaceflight.
• Kibo experiments and systems are operated from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's control center called the Space Station Integration and Promotion Center in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, just north of Tokyo.
• Experiments in Kibo focus on space medicine, biology, Earth observations, material production,
biotechnology and communications research.

Crew STS-124