Astronauts test Japanese robotic arm

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide put the robotic arm of the Japanese Kibo module through its paces Monday before stowing it away, as the shuttle Discovery crew completed its mission at the International Space Station.

Hoshide extended the 10.06-meter (33-foot) metallic arm and tested all its six joints as engineers monitored its every move from the Kibo control center in Tokyo.

The robotic arm will be used to handle experiments in the cold vacuum of space once the third and final element of the Kibo laboratory, an exterior 'balcony' called the "Exposed Facility," will be delivered by another shuttle in March 2009.

Kibo -- "Hope" in Japanese -- marks a huge advance in Japan's participation in the ISS, which already has units from NASA and...