ISS has the largest and most modern laboratory

Yesterday 4.6 (VN time), the astronauts' first space walk from Discovery ship ended with the successful assembly of the main part of the $ 3 billion lab called Kibo. into the International Space Station (ISS).

The two astronauts Michael Fossum and Ronald Garan had 6 hours and 48 minutes of working out of the air to direct Kibo's main unit the size of a 2-storey bus into the right position on the ISS. Meanwhile, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide in the station controls the robotic arm to move the laboratory from Discovery's luggage compartment to the assembly station.

The main part of Kibo (is the pressure module with cylindrical 11.2m long, 4.6m diameter and 15.9 tons weighing with remote controlled robotic arm) is placed on the gate by astronauts. The Harmony module, was also picked up by Discovery ship at the end of October 2007. This is also the gateway for the European laboratory called Columbus to be on orbit in February 2008.

Kibo, Japanese means "hope" - is the largest and most modern laboratory of a Japanese-made space station for experiments in physics, biology, and superpower studies. interesting. In addition to the newly assembled main unit, it also includes a 4.2-ton, 3.9m-long, 4.4m-long ELM-PS logistics module that was put on board by Endeavor at the end of March and Telecommunication system, expected to be available in March next year.

After this walk, Discovery ship astronauts were twice outside to perform the task of replacing nitrogen fuel tanks in the station's cooling system; as well as checking and cleaning the rings of solar absorbers.

Today, astronauts will be repairing the station's toilets from the Discovery ship's equipment. It is known that the liquid collector of this toilet is broken so now the astronauts have to use the Discovery toilet room temporarily.

(Photo: AP / NASA)