Mission

JAXA PAO event（Image credit: NASA）

Today, the crew aboard the International Space Starion (ISS) took some off-duty time.

Astronaut Takao Doi, along with the ISS commander Peggy Whitson and the STS-123 Mission commander Dominic Gorie, participated in the JAXA PAO event which began at 8:10 a.m. and lasted 23 minutes. During the event, they spoke with Japanese Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda, while showing the inside of the Japanese Experiment Logistics Module-Pressurized Section (ELM-PS). The ground participants who gathered at the Prime Minister Office were Kisaburo Tokai, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sport and Science and Technology, and five students who are attending the schools where astronaut Doi once belonged as a student. Astronaut Doi also answered the students' several questions.

The crew spent their afternoon configuring some tools for tomorrow's extravehicular activity (EVA) and reviewing the EVA procedures.

Tomorrow (FD11), the mission's fourth spacewalk (EVA#4) will start at 7:28 a.m. The spacewalkers will begin with replacement of a circuit breaker called Remote Power Controller Module (RPCM). Then, the spacewalkers will focus on the T-RAD tile repair technique/procedure test that will be conducted on the nadir worksite of the Destiny laboratory.

Astronaut Doi's on orbit activities

Astronaut Doi participated in the JAXA public event today. He spoke with Japanese Prime Minister and answered several questions inquired from the students of his old schools.

About one hour later, he also participated in the interview sessions with U.S. media.

For further information, please refer to the NASA STS-123 Mission Status Report

*All times are Japan Standard Time (JST)