Mission

The joint crew news conference

The crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS) took a half-day off today. They enjoyed their off-duty time talking with their families over the phone or seeing the beautiful scenery of the blue planet from the station or the space shuttle.

The members of the ISS crew and STS-123 Mission crew participated in the 40-minute joint crew news conference. The crew responded to many questions asked by the media persons from US, Japan and Europe.

In preparation for the undocking on FD15, the STS-123 Mission crewmembers checked out the rendezvous tools.

Astronaut Doi's on orbit activity

Astronaut Doi took some off-duty time today. He checked the rendezvous tools that will be used during the undocking scheduled tomorrow morning. He also took some photos of the Microgravity Experiment Research Locker Incubator (MERLIN). The MERLIN is a storage container for experiment samples.

Before the sleep period, he activated the Rigidizable Inflatable Get-Away-Special Experiment (RIGEX). The RIGEX, installed in the shuttle's payload bay, will run by computer program during the crew sleep period tonight.

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

*All times are Japan Standard Time (JST)