Space Shuttle Endeavour Blasts Off

[cosmictraveler]

The launching site was jammed with Canadians and Japanese representing two of the major partners in the international space station. The Canadian Space Agency supplied Dextre, the two-armed robot that was hitching a ride aboard Endeavour, while the Japanese Space Agency sent up the first part of its massive Kibo lab, a storage compartment for experiments, tools and spare parts.

Also on hand for the liftoff was a 19-member congressional delegation led by Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Texas, whose district includes Johnson Space Center in Houston. He is pushing for increased NASA funding.

For the first time since space station construction began nearly 10 years ago, all five major partners were about to own a piece of the orbiting real estate. The launch of the first section of Kibo, or Hope, finally propelled Japan into the space station action.

"With this flight I believe that we finally became a real partner of the (space station) project, not just one of the members on the list, after 20 some years of effort in the project," said Keiji Tachikawa, head of the Japanese Space agency.

By MARCIA DUNN,AP
Posted: 2008-03-11 11:33:04
Filed Under: Science News, Space Shuttle News

[Challenger78]

It's because theres less funding and interest in the project that they've allowed other countries to put in more than a token effort.

[draqon]

It's because theres less funding and interest in the project that they've allowed other countries to put in more than a token effort.

what Japanese touch goes golden.

[draqon]

[cosmictraveler]

I just hope to see many Japanese scientists using that section as well as many others of course. Now we can really get some great experiments started!