CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The space shuttle Discovery's successful Saturday
launch marked a milestone for Japan, whose largest contribution to the
International Space Station (ISS) has finally reached space.
The Japanese people are now eagerly awaiting the installation of their
massive Kibo laboratory (whose name means "Hope" in Japanese), which was more than 20 years in the making,
at the space station next week.
"This is very significant for Japan because ... now we have our
experiment module up at the station," said Keiji Tachikawa, president of
the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center
(KSC) after the successful launch. "That means it is the first time for Japan
to have [a] manned facility in space."
The space
shuttle lifted off at 5:02 p.m. EDT (2102 GMT) today from a seaside launch
pad here, beginning a planned 14-day mission to the space station to deliver
Kibo module along with an eagerly-awaited replacement pump for the orbiting
lab's broken
toilet.
The launch is significant not just for Japan, but for the international
spaceflight community, NASA officials said.
"This was a huge day for the ISS partnership, for the Japanese Space
Agency, for NASA, and really for all the people who hope to see the ISS come to
fruition and do what it was designed to do," said NASA chief Michael Griffin.
Discovery's liftoff was also notably smooth, mission managers said.
"It was just a flawless countdown, and a flawless launch," said LeRoy
Cain, chair for Discovery's STS-124
mission management team.
About five pieces of foam debris were spotted falling from the shuttle's
external tank, but NASA officials were confident they would not pose a risk to
the orbiter's heat shield.
"They were late in the ascent, so they can't build up enough velocity to
impact the orbiter," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's space operations chief.
"They appear to be lightweight based on what we've seen."
Today's flight was the first to use an external tank built from the
ground up with all the redesigns planned after the 2003 Columbia tragedy, when
that shuttle was destroyed because of damage to its heat shielding incurred
from falling debris from its external tank.
Tomorrow, Discovery's crew will make a preliminary inspection of their
orbiter's heat shield, though a full checkout will have to wait until the
seventh day of their mission on June 6.
Because the tour bus-sized Kibo lab is so large, Discovery launched with
its usual inspection boom for heat shield surveys. Spacewalking astronauts are
slated to retrieve a spare inspection boom stored outside the space station for
Discovery on Tuesday.
There also appeared to be a minor glitch with the backup electrical
system for a swivel joint in one of Discovery's two aft-mounted Orbital
Maneuvering System engines during liftoff, but officials said it should not
pose problem since the primary sytem is still working fine.
Watching the launch from KSC was a reunion of 16 of the surviving "35
New Guys" (TFNG) - the first class of astronauts picked for the space shuttle program.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of their appointment as astronauts in
1978, after the Apollo program ended. This group included the first female
astronauts, and also the first black astronaut - Guion Bluford. Four of the
TFNG perished in the Challenger disaster.
Also viewing the launch was five-time spaceflyer, U.S. astronaut Janice
Voss.
"I'm extremely pleased that this crew is going to get their chance to
experience the space environment," Voss told SPACE.com today. "I'm
really excited about the Japanese pressurized module going up, and the full
integration of our last major international partner who hasn't previously been
fully integrated. This will be a huge step up for them, which is nice to see."
NASA is broadcasting Discovery's STS-124 mission live on
NASA TV. Click here for
SPACE.com's shuttle mission updates and a live NASA TV feed.
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