The 12-foot-tall Space Station robot, dubbed DEXTRE, has been attached to the ISS and powered up. NASA reports:
Dextre Moved to Destiny Lab, Crew Enjoys Time Off
Image above: Space Shuttle Endeavour, docked to the Pressurized Mating Adapter on the International Space Station, is featured in this image photographed by a crewmember during the STS-123 mission’s third spacewalk. The newly installed Japanese Logistics Module - Pressurized Section is visible at top right. Credit: NASA TV
In a day highlighted by robotics activity, the Canadian-built Dextre was attached to a power and data grapple fixture located on the U.S. laboratory Destiny. The new robotic system is the final element of the International Space Station’s Mobile Servicing System.
Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan and Mike Foreman finished assembling Dextre Sunday during the second spacewalk of STS-123.
Canadarm2, the International Space Station’s robot arm, grabbed the pallet that secured Dextre during its journey to the orbital outpost and returned the pallet to space shuttle Endeavour’s payload bay for the trip back to Earth.
The station and shuttle crews also prepared hardware to be used in a shuttle tile repair test on the next spacewalk, and they got some much needed off duty time.
Foreman and Mission Specialist Robert Behnken are slated to begin the mission’s fourth spacewalk at 6:28 p.m. Thursday. The two will perform tasks that include the shuttle tile repair test and change out of a circuit breaker on the station.
Media Resources
› STS-123 Execute Packages
› STS-123 TV Schedule
› STS-123 Press Kit (4.4 Mb PDF)
› STS-123 Fact Sheet (433 Kb PDF)
Flight Day 8 pics and video are up at the JSC Gallery. Booster cam launch video here. Discussion here. Status Report #18 here. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV.
