The astronauts of the Discovery and the space station will enter the Kibo laboratory for the first time today

As you remember, the laboratory was installed yesterday as part of the first spacewalk in mission STS-124

The crew members of the space station and space shuttle Discovery opened the hatches that separate the old station from the new component - the Japanese Kibo Laboratory. The opening was planned for 23:52 Israel time (about half an hour before writing this news, but this has not yet been updated on the NASA website). The laboratory that will be used for experiments in conditions of lack of gravity was installed on the Harmonic component on Tuesday as part of the first spacewalk of the STS-124 mission.

After checking for leaks, Karen Nyberg and Akihiko Hoshid will prepare Kibo's stomach for activity. Immediately after entering the cabin, Hoshida and the commander of the station's 17th crew, Sergey Volkov, will sample the air and test it to see if it is not contaminated. They would wear masks and goggles until they were sure the air in the Japanese lab was clean.

In the meantime, Mike Possum and Ron Garan will learn the procedures required for their second spacewalk and they will sleep in the Quest airlock, to purge the nitrogen from their bodies. In the second spacewalk, expected on Thursday, the two will adapt the outer part of the Japanese Kibo module that arrived in the previous mission, for transfer from its temporary location to its permanent location next to the compressed component.

The faulty pump in the toilet was replaced

Not only are there scientific works at the station, but also ongoing maintenance. In addition to the activity around the Kibo laboratory, the astronauts managed to replace the pump in the station's toilets that broke down about ten days ago. As recalled in an international operation, spare parts for the services were brought from Russia and put on the ferry at night, almost before it was launched at the end of last week. Yesterday, these spare parts were assembled in the toilets and the staff members of the station are exempted from using bags and other substitutes.