KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- On Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the payload canister containing the first section of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and the Canadian Space Agency's two-armed robotic system, Dextre, is lifted up toward the payload changeout room in the rotating service structure. Umbilical lines are still attached. The changeout room is the enclosed, environmentally controlled portion of the rotating service structure that supports cargo delivery to the pad and subsequent vertical installation into an orbiter's payload bay. The payload will be installed into Endeavour for launch on the STS-123 mission targeted for March 11. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Location Kennedy Space Center, FL
Date February 15, 2008