European, Japanese lab launches move up

NASA and its partners hammered out an agreement today that will move up the launches of European and Japanese laboratories to the International Space Station.

Meeting at Kennedy Space Center, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin and the heads of the Russian, Japanese, European and Canadian space agencies agreed to a revised sequence for the completion of station assembly.

The new sequence moves up to 2007 the launch of the European Space Agency's Columbus science laboratory, which is scheduled to be delivered to KSC in late May.

A Japanese science module named Kibo (which means "Hope") now is slated to be launched in 2008. The lab has been undergoing launch preparations at the KSC Space Station Processing Facility since mid-2003.

The new sequence calls for NASA shuttles to fly 16 station assembly missions. It leaves open the possibility to launch two missions to haul spare parts and equipment up to the station before the shuttle fleet is retired in September 2010.

For those who want to take a closer look, here's the complete manifest:

Download: NASA's new station launch schedule