Feature
STS-124 -- Mission Patch Explorer Game
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Read below to learn more about the STS-124 mission patch.
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Space shuttle Discovery will take the STS-124 crew to the International Space Station. This 123rd space shuttle flight is the 26th flight to the space station and the 35th flight for Discovery. The main goal of the mission is to install the Kibo laboratory's large Japanese Pressurized Module, or JPM.
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STS-124 carries the main piece of the space station's largest laboratory -- Kibo. This lab is from Japan. The part that STS-124 carries is Kibo's Japanese Pressurized Module. It is the size of a school bus. Astronauts will conduct microgravity experiments in this lab. Kibo experiments and systems are operated from a mission control room near Tokyo.
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Commander Mark Kelly leads shuttle mission STS-124, his third shuttle flight. He was the pilot on STS-108 and STS-121. Before docking with the space station, he will fly the shuttle in the rendezvous pitch maneuver. At that time Discovery flips over so that the station crew can photograph its heat shield. Kelly's twin brother Scott is also an astronaut.
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Ken Ham is the pilot for the STS-124 space shuttle mission. It is his first spaceflight, but he has more than 3,700 flight hours in more than 40 different aircraft. Ham is responsible for the operations of orbiter systems and the shuttle’s robotic arm. He will undock Discovery from the space station near the end of the mission.
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Karen Nyberg is a mission specialist on STS-124. She served seven days as an aquanaut in an undersea research habitat as part of the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations, or NEEMO, mission. During STS-124 she will operate the shuttle’s and space station’s robotic arms. She will work with the new Japanese robotic arm.
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The Japanese word "Kibo" on the patch means hope. The sun shining on Earth represents the hope that the world will benefit from the Kibo laboratory. Japanese astronauts will experiment in space medicine, biology, Earth observations, material production, biotechnology and communications research in Kibo.
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Greg Chamitoff (SHAM eh tawf) is a mission specialist. STS-124 is his first spaceflight. During STS-124 he will operate the space station’s robotic arm. He will remain on the space station as a flight engineer and science officer during Expedition 17. He is scheduled to return on shuttle mission STS-126, targeted for launch in November 2008.
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Akihiko Hoshide (ah-kee-he-ko ho-she-day) is a mission specialist from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA. STS-124 is his first spaceflight. During STS-124 he will work on the Kibo assembly and activation, including operating the space station’s robotic arm to install the new module. When he activates the main computer, JAXA can command it from the ground.
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STS-124 is Mike Fossum's second shuttle mission. He flew as a mission specialist with Mark Kelly on STS-121 in 2006 and has spent more than 306 hours in space. Fossum was a spacewalker on that mission. On STS-124, he is the lead spacewalker and will perform three spacewalks. He also will operate the space shuttle's robotic arm.
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The STS-124 mission is Ron Garan's first spaceflight. He is a mission specialist whose main job on STS-124 will be to perform spacewalks. He and astronaut Mike Fossum will remove the Japanese module from the shuttle’s payload bay and prepare the lab for installation on the space station. Garan also is one of the space shuttle’s robotic arm operators.