Mission

The crew completed all of their planned tasks, including inspection of Endeavour's heat shield, checkout of the space suits and the tools that will be used during the rendezvous/docking.

Today, the Space Shuttle Endeavour roared into a midnight sky of Florida carrying Japan's first human-rated space facility, Experiment Logistics Module -Pressurized Section (ELM-PS), which is the first Kibo element to be delivered to the ISS, and the ISS's new robotic arm "Dextre" developed by Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

Astronaut Takao Doi and his STS-123 Mission crewmates arrived at KSC in preparation for the launch scheduled on March 11. On the same day, STS-123 Mission's countdown has started at 3:00 a.m.

The launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour is now officially targeted at 02:28 a.m. on March 11, 2008 EDT. (15:28 p.m. March 11, 2008 JST).

JAXA astronaut Takao Doi and his STS-123 Mission crewmates completed the final session of the STS-123 mission-specific training held at NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) from Feb 23 through 25, 2008.