Japan and Korea go to space

Space Shuttle Endeavour left Cape Canaveral today to deliver part of a Japanese space laboratory and a Canadian-built robotic arm system to the International Space Station (ISS). With the arrival of Japan's lab, all 15 partner countries in the ISS are represented in orbit.

The $100-billion space station is 60% complete after a decade of construction and must be finished by the time the space shuttle program is retired in 2010. Endeavour is carrying the first part of an elaborate Japanese space laboratory, which the Japanese have been working on for over 20 years. About the size of a double-decker bus, it will be the station's largest laboratory and will have facilities for art and "orbital dance", along with experiment racks for biomedical studies, fluid physics research and life science. link

It was announced yesterday that the first South Korean astronaut will be a woman. Yi So-yeon, 29, is a biotechnology engineer who is finishing her doctorate. Yi will serve as a payload specialist with two Russian cosmonauts for a seven- or eight-day mission to the International Space Station. The man intended to be the first South Korean in space has been grounded for violating security protocol. link