Kibo component weighed in at KSC

The warehouse wing of a Japanese science laboratory is being weighed in this week at Kennedy Space Center in preparation for its launch next year to the International Space Station.

Known as the Logistics Module, the orbital storage facility will be the first of three major components that make up the lab, which is named "Kibo" -- the Japanese word for "hope." It ultimately will be positioned atop a long pressurized laboratory module that will be berthed to the U.S. Harmony connecting node. The multihatch Harmony node will serve as the gateway between the U.S., Japanese and European sections of the station.

The Kibo lab also will feature a "back porch" -- a large external pallet where experiments can be exposed to the space environment. A robotic arm will be attached to the outside of the Kibo lab so that experiments on the pallet can be manipulated.

The Logistics Module arrived at Kennedy Space Center in March after a three-month trip from Tsukuba Space Center. It was uncrated in the KSC Space Station Processing Facility and then lifted onto a scale with an overhead crane on Monday. Weight and center-of-gravity tests will be performed before the module is moved into a work stand at the facility. The module had been slated to launch in December but shuttle schedule delays likely will push the mission back to February 2008.

IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge the NASA photo of the Kibo Logistics Module being lifted onto a scale with an overhead crane in the Kennedy Space Center Space Station Processing Facility. The module, one of three major components that will make up the Japanese section of the International Space Station, is being readied for launch to the outpost early next year. Photo credit: NASA/George Shelton.