HOUSTON —
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) tested a new Japanese robotic
arm for the first time Saturday as they passed the halfway mark of their
two-week construction flight.
"The week
has gone way too fast," Discovery shuttle astronaut Karen Nyberg said in a
series of televised interviews.
NASA's space
shuttle Discovery launched
toward the station on May 31 to deliver Japan's $1 billion Kibo science
laboratory, a tour bus-sized module that sports its own small airlock, two
windows and a 33-foot (10-meter) robotic arm.
Nyberg and
Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide flew the arm through a slight move today to
clear space for astronauts to work near it during a Sunday spacewalk.
"It's a big
milestone, we have our own house here now," Hoshide told reporters of Kibo
today. "And it's bigger now so people can start doing some science here."
Astronauts delivered
the 37-foot (11-meter) Kibo
laboratory earlier this week and attached its storage attic, a small
rooftop module, on Friday. They plan to conduct more robotic arm tests and
reopen the storage room on Monday.
Tomorrow, spacewalkers
Mike Fossum and Ron Garan plan to venture outside the space station to replace
an empty nitrogen tank serving the outpost's cooling system and inspect a
massive port-side gear. The gear rotates the station's port solar wings like a
paddlewheel to track the sun.
Fossum
spotted what appeared to be excess grease on the gear's main metal ring during
a Thursday
spacewalk and photographed areas that may contain minor bits of debris,
NASA officials said.
"It really
looks to me like a little bit of grease," Fossum told reporters today.
Engineers
hope Fossum can collect samples of the stuff to aid ongoing analysis and repair
efforts with a similar gear on the station's starboard side that has been
damaged by metal grit contamination.
Sunday's spacewalk
will mark the third for Discovery's seven-astronaut crew and the final planned
excursion for the shuttle's
14-day mission. The shuttle is scheduled to undock on Wednesday and land on
June 14.
"The
mission is going great," said Discovery commander Mark Kelly, adding that Japan's
Kibo laboratory is nearing full activation. "It's getting close to being fully
functional facility."
NASA is
broadcasting Discovery's STS-124 mission live on NASA TV
on Saturday. Click here for
SPACE.com's shuttle mission updates and NASA TV feed.
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