STS-123 : Mission Update

Hi Again,

Lots of things have happened since I last blogged of STS-123. I’ve lost several layers of epidermis to my battle with cosmic radiation, helped the family manage to get all eight cylinders of a roaring racing engine running, and take a few tests. Most importantly, though, Shuttle mission STS-123 has made some amazing accomplishments on a record setting mission.

STS-123 is the twenty-fifth shuttle mission to ISS. The two main goals have been to deliver the first module of the Japanese laboratory Kibo, and install a new robot arm Dextre. Dextre is the robot arms of robot arms. In fact its much more like a robotic hand with 3 arms, a pivoting waste, and 7 offset “fingers” on two of the arms. Dextre will not only act as a much improved tool during space walks, but remove spacewalks entirely. As we are all aware removing spacewalks saves a large amount of time for preparation, training, as well as removing the added danger of having a human outside of the space station. The Endevour crew did run into some initial problems during installation, but were able to make corrections and move forward.

The current mission duration is set for sixteen days and will be the first mission fully utilizing the SSPTS. This system essentially powers the orbiter off of ISS’s power supply. This greatly increases the amount of time the orbiter can remain attached to the station. If you would like a full day to day account of the mission it can be found here.

Stay tuned for more updates,

Scott

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