Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-123

Kibo is the major Japanese contribution to the station and will increase its research capability in a variety of disciplines. The name, which means “hope,” was chosen by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in a national contest.

The Kibo laboratory will eventually be berthed to the left side of the station's Harmony node. The Japanese Experiment Logistics Module-Pressurized Section (ELM-PS), the smaller of two pressurized modules of Kibo, will be attached temporarily to a docking port on the space-facing side of Harmony.

Dextre, the Canadian device, will work with the station’s robotic arm, Canadarm2. Designed for station maintenance and service, Dextre is capable of sensing forces and movement of objects it is manipulating. It can automatically compensate for those forces and movements to ensure an object is moved smoothly.
Dextre is the final element of the Mobile Servicing System, part of Canada’s contribution to the station. The name was chosen by Canadian students in a national contest. Dextre had been called the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator.

Once assembled, Dextre will look a little like a human upper torso stick figure. It will have two arms, and be capable of performing delicate tasks and using tools. Its four cameras will give crew members inside the station views of its activities. Dextre will be able to work from the end of Canadarm2 or from the orbiting laboratory’s mobile base system.

The flight included five spacewalks. Three of them included tasks devoted to assembly of Dextre and installation of related equipment. Other spacewalk activities included work to unberth Kibo’s ELM-PS, installation of spare parts and tools, installation of a materials experiment, replacement of a circuit-breaker box and demonstration of a repair procedure for tiles of the shuttle’s heat shield.

Spacewalkers also stowed the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS), the extension of the shuttle’s robotic arm, onto the station’s main truss during the fifth spacewalk. The boom sensor system was left on the station because the size of the large Japanese pressurized module to be launched on STS-124 won’t allow it to be carried in Discovery’s cargo bay. The OBSS will be returned to Earth at the end of that mission.