Mission

ELM-PS（right） and Dextre（top center） installed on ISS（Image credit: NASA）

Today, Dextre, the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), was finally attached to its home on the Destiny laboratory by the station's robotic arm, Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS).

Also, the Spacelab Logistics Pallet (SLP) was stowed back inside Endeavour's payload bay by the SSRMS for return to the ground.

Inside the International Space Station (ISS), astronaut Takao Doi performed JAXA's Education Payload Operations (EPO). The JAXA EPO on this mission consists of two themes; JAXA "Space Poem Chain" and "Sample Return Mission." The Space Poem Chain is an international cultural activity that JAXA had been organizing. The Sample Return Mission is an educational project targeted for Japanese students. Idea of the Space Poem Chain is, in summary, the DVD that contains the Space Poem Chain 1st edition will be stored inside the ELM-PS. For the Sample Return Mission, some living samples, such as seeds of morning glory and bird's-foot trefoil and diapause eggs of ceriodaphnia dubia etc., will be stored inside the ELM-PS for about six months. The living samples are intended for distributing to schools or educational centers in Japan after returned to the ground. Those seeds and eggs are supposed to be grown by the Japanese students.

The 1st edition of the Space Poem Chain DVD includes the poems compiled in the Japanese Fiscal Year (JFY) 2008. For details of the Space Poem Chain, please visit the following address;
/utiliz/renshi/index_e.html

Astronaut Doi's on orbit activities

His day began with one-hour exercise using the shuttle's exercise equipment. After the exercise, astronaut Doi performed the JAXA EPO. During the JAXA EPO, astronaut Doi stored the 1st edition of Space Poem Chain DVD and sample seeds and eggs into the storage place inside the ELM-PS.

After that, he manipulated the space shuttle's robotic arm, Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS), to support the robotic operations for movnig the Spacelab Pallet (SLP) from the ISS truss to shuttle's payload bay.

Following the lunch hour, he checked the configurations of the racks he has reconfigured, and took some photos of the ELM-PS interior.
With the today's checkouts completed, all the planned tasks inside the ELM-PS were accomplished.

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

*All times are Japan Standard Time (JST)