(Source: Space.com) CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's shuttle Discovery rocketed into space Saturday with a massive Japanese laboratory bound for the International Space Station.
Discovery shot up into the sky at 5:02 p.m. EDT (2102 GMT) from its seaside Launch Pad 39A here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center carrying what will soon be the largest single room aboard the space station - the tour bus-sized main cabin of the Japan's Kibo ("hope" in Japanese) laboratory.
"While we've all prepared for this event today, the discoveries from Kibo will definitely offer hope for tomorrow," said Discovery's commander Mark Kelly just before launch. "Now stand by for the greatest show on Earth."
During their planned 14-day mission, Discovery's seven crewmembers will perform three spacewalks to install the $1 billion Kibo laboratory, relocate its smaller storage cabin from its current perch to the main room, and activate the laboratory's robotic arm. The shuttle is slated to dock at the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday afternoon.
Watching the launch here was Kelly's identical twin brother, Scott Kelly, who is also a veteran astronaut. Their father Richard celebrated his 68th birthday while his son Mark launched into space.
"I'm excited for him - it's an amazing experience," Scott Kelly, a veteran spaceflyer, told SPACE.com this morning. "I think it's a unique privilege to not only fly in space but then have your brother that you can talk about it with and he understands exactly what you're talking about 'cause he's shared those experiences and memories."
Japan's 'hopes' reach space Discovery's STS-124 mission is the second of three planned shuttle flights to bring all of Kibo's elements into space. It follows the shuttle Endeavour's March 2008 flight, which delivered the small storage room, and precedes a planned spring 2009 mission to deliver Kibo's porch-like external platform.
The launch of Kibo's main element represents the fruition of more than 20 years of work and planning by Japan to add its own segment to the space station. The new module is about 37 feet (11 meters) long and about 14.4 feet (4.4 meters) wide. It weighs about 32,000 pounds (14,514 kg).
"It shows ISS is coming into the stage of the truly international," said Yoshiyuki Hasegawa, Japanese Experiment Module program manager. "This Kibo is known for the Japanese people, even child and old man and government senator. Even my mother knows that Kibo is the international station and made in Japan."
Japan's stake in Discovery's mission is embodied by crewmember Akihiko Hoshide, a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut who will serve as the resident Kibo expert when he and his crewmates work to install the lab on the ISS.
"This is a big step for the Japanese community, the science community especially, because that means that they can start their own science," Hoshide said before launch. "It's a big milestone for Japan."