Science Behind Things

Discovery Astronauts Fix ISS Toilet and Add Japanese Kibo Lab Component

June 9, 2008 on 12:02 am | In International Space Station | No Comments

The International Space Station (ISS) is about 2/3 built, with the Kibo (meaning ‘peace’ in Japanese) module being added to the ISS last week and this week by NASA astronauts Mike Fossum and Ron Garan.  The science lab is about the size of a school bus (36.7 feet, or 11.2 meters long), and is the third science lab to be added to ther station.  It is also the largest component added to the lab so far.  Kibo is Japan’s first contribution to the space station, and it is impressive.  Kibo will expand the ISS’s capability from three astronauts and cosmonauts to six, and will allow those astronauts/cosmonauts to carry out experiments in medicine, biology and biotechnology, material production and communications, both inside the shirt sleeve environment and outside in the vacuum of space which can go from -455 degrees Fahrenheit (-255 degrees Celsius) to hundreds of degrees above zero.

The space Shuttle Discovery’s astronauts have also brought a replacement pump and hoses to repair the ISS’s only toilet, a very important item when you’re away from home for 3 months.  Discovery is set to stay in orbit 14 days with the ISS.

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Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aidUbK6qoOAo&refer=canada