1 00:00:00,970 --> 00:00:08,850 \h GEORGE DILLER: Like the International Space Station itself, the STS-124 mission represents the spirit of global teamwork. 2 00:00:08,850 --> 00:00:13,650 \h Commanded by Mark Kelly, and joined by JAXA astronaut Aki Hoshide. 3 00:00:13,650 --> 00:00:19,450 \h The crew of Discovery will build on the success of STS-123 by adding a large 4 00:00:19,450 --> 00:00:23,370 \h pressurized module and a versatile robot arm. 5 00:00:23,370 --> 00:00:30,130 \h STS-124 is the second in this series of flights. Discovery will be in place on 6 00:00:30,130 --> 00:00:35,690 \h Launch Pad 39A and the countdown clock is already ticking toward liftoff. 7 00:00:35,690 --> 00:00:40,750 \h Live from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, this is L minus-one. 8 00:00:40,750 --> 00:00:47,870 \h (Crew recording) Close and lock your visors, initiate O2 flow, it's time to fly. 9 00:00:47,870 --> 00:00:50,850 \h ALLARD BEUTEL: Thanks for joining us here for our prelaunch show, L-minus-one. 10 00:00:50,850 --> 00:00:54,570 \h I'm your host Allard Beutel, news chief here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. 11 00:00:54,570 --> 00:00:58,880 \h L-minus-one is also NASA-talk for the day before lift off and we are almost exactly 12 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:02,590 \h 24-hours away from the launch of space shuttle Discovery. And we can feel the 13 00:01:02,590 --> 00:01:06,120 \h pace picking up here at the launch center as the clock is counting down. 14 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:09,850 \h We've got a great show lined up for you today. We have veteran astronaut Mike Foale 15 00:01:09,850 --> 00:01:16,100 \h who will take us inside the STS-124 mission that will dramatically increase the science potential of the International Space Station. 16 00:01:16,100 --> 00:01:20,790 \h But first let me set the stage for you. This very studio is located inside the Kennedy News Center 17 00:01:20,790 --> 00:01:26,650 \h and media from around the world have been pouring in the last couple of days to cover tomorrow's launch for a global audience. 18 00:01:26,650 --> 00:01:30,760 \h The hub of this activity is right across the street from here, in the launch control 19 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:35,170 \h center, or as we call it the LCC, which is really the "brain" of the shuttle launch complex. 20 00:01:35,170 --> 00:01:39,080 \h Every mission launched at Launch Complex 39 from the Apollo missions straight through 21 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:43,480 \h to the shuttle program have been controlled from the firing rooms inside the launch control center. 22 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:49,150 \h Right now there are controllers on duty, round the clock, monitoring the health of Discovery from Firing Room 4. 23 00:01:49,150 --> 00:01:52,950 \h It's a very exciting time to be here and it's a very good time for us to introduce Dr. Michael Foale, thank you for joining us. 24 00:01:52,950 --> 00:01:55,910 \h MICHAEL FOALE: It's a pleasure to be with you. 25 00:01:55,910 --> 00:02:00,480 \h BEUTEL: When I call you "veteran," that's no lie -- six flights and including one on 26 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:03,410 \h the long duration flight on the International Space Station and long duration flight on the 27 00:02:03,410 --> 00:02:08,060 \h Russian Space Station Mir. You've gone through a few countdowns yourself. 28 00:02:08,060 --> 00:02:09,440 \h FOALE: Yes, I have. BEUTEL: What's it like? 29 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:16,000 \h FOALE: Why, it's nerve racking. I was surprised I was able to sleep before each countdown – 30 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:22,110 \h the night before I got sleep. But once you get out there, once you get up you have your breakfast, 31 00:02:22,110 --> 00:02:25,700 \h you're part of a team, and you're aware of this team, building you up getting you ready, 32 00:02:25,700 --> 00:02:31,900 \h making sure you get out to the launch pad on time. They don't want anyone lost in the toilet or anything like that back home. 33 00:02:31,900 --> 00:02:38,920 \h And you feel some tension with your crewmates. As the Astrovan, the silver van takes you out 34 00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:44,270 \h to the launch pad, you're aware that this day is very, very different from other days, 35 00:02:44,270 --> 00:02:48,400 \h because other days you've seen workers out there at the launch pad, 36 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:52,390 \h just regular things are going on the guard checks happen, the badges are checked. 37 00:02:52,390 --> 00:02:56,560 \h But this day, no one is out there. In fact, if there are any vehicles, they're all leaving the launch pad, 38 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:01,200 \h and that's because it's a really dangerous place. And you're going out there and it makes you think, ah, 39 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:05,770 \h this is the most dangerous place in the whole area and you're driving out towards it. 40 00:03:05,770 --> 00:03:11,360 \h Once you get into the vehicle you kind of settle down and it's more familiar to you again. 41 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:15,760 \h It's stuff you trained in the simulator many, many times. The countdown progresses 42 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:25,510 \h in a very steady way over two hours to that magic moment -- 3, 2, 1, 0 and then the solid rocket boosters kick off. 43 00:03:25,510 --> 00:03:28,030 \h BEUTEL: And really, is it like the training? I mean do you kick back into your 44 00:03:28,030 --> 00:03:34,230 \h training mode or really does feel extra special -- that this is real, not simulated? 45 00:03:34,230 --> 00:03:42,010 \h FOALE: The other big difference, about actually driving out in the Astrovan, to the launch pad is the, of course, 46 00:03:42,010 --> 00:03:46,790 \h you're not going to a simulator; you're going to the real thing. And so simulators, no matter how good the 47 00:03:46,790 --> 00:03:55,290 \h graphics and our graphics in our simulators back in Houston are not as good as even the best games around these days. 48 00:03:55,290 --> 00:04:00,230 \h So when you actually get in the vehicle and you see the sky through the windows 49 00:04:00,230 --> 00:04:05,510 \h and you see blue sky and you're on your back. And the smell of the vehicle is a little different 50 00:04:05,510 --> 00:04:10,890 \h from the simulator and it's newer looking. And all that tells you, this is different. 51 00:04:10,890 --> 00:04:18,000 \h And so however, nonetheless, everything that you do is familiar to you because you've done it before. 52 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:24,510 \h BEUTEL: Right. Well actually for this particular crew on Discovery, two of them are veterans and two of 53 00:04:24,510 --> 00:04:30,080 \h them are actually experiencing a countdown for the very first time. So let's take a look at the STS-124 crew. 54 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:34,290 \h DILLER: Two-time shuttle pilot Mark Kelly takes the reins as commander of space 55 00:04:34,290 --> 00:04:39,420 \h shuttle Discovery on the 26th mission to the International Space Station. 56 00:04:39,420 --> 00:04:48,090 \h It's the first shuttle mission for crew members Ken Ham, Karen Nyberg and Ron Garan, and the second for Mike Fossum. 57 00:04:48,090 --> 00:04:54,760 \h Aki Hoshide represents the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on his first space flight. 58 00:04:54,760 --> 00:05:00,270 \h Expedition 17 Flight Engineer Greg Chamitoff will join the crew aboard the station, 59 00:05:00,270 --> 00:05:05,340 \h replacing Garrett Reisman, who will return to Earth after his stay in orbit. 60 00:05:05,340 --> 00:05:08,250 \h BEUTEL: Well, let's get to the part where we have the thing in the back 61 00:05:08,250 --> 00:05:10,380 \h of Discovery, in the cargo bay, the payload, as we call it. 62 00:05:10,380 --> 00:05:14,320 \h This is Japan's major contribution to International Space Station and overall 63 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:17,610 \h the laboratory's called the Japanese Experiment Module, or JEM or -- 64 00:05:17,610 --> 00:05:21,070 \h FOALE: Kibo, yes -- BEUTEL: or Kibo. FOALE: I think hope, is that right? 65 00:05:21,070 --> 00:05:25,710 \h BEUTEL: That -- you're absolutely -- And we're taking up the Pressurized Module, the main, \ 66 00:05:25,710 --> 00:05:29,280 \h the biggest lab on the space, it will be the biggest lab on the space station and the biggest module we've ever taken up. 67 00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:34,680 \h Right now we really have all the, really all the major scientific elements up on the station, or will be after this flight. 68 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:40,610 \h FOALE: Just about, yes. This mission is key, it really I think psychologically for the partners it will 69 00:05:40,610 --> 00:05:45,380 \h be the accomplishment of all the dreams of building an international space 70 00:05:45,380 --> 00:05:49,310 \h station…an international experiment facility and laboratory. 71 00:05:49,310 --> 00:05:57,590 \h And Kibo lab is the "end piece," it's not the final piece, but I think psychologically it is. 72 00:05:57,590 --> 00:06:01,470 \h BEUTEL: And there have been people here at the Kennedy Space Center from Japan who have worked here 73 00:06:01,470 --> 00:06:07,160 \h since the pressurized module arrived. You yourself, obviously not only flown on the original space station, 74 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:12,260 \h but on Mir, had to train and live in Russia for some time yourself. So what's it like having to immerse 75 00:06:12,260 --> 00:06:14,790 \h yourself into a different country and work with their space program? 76 00:06:14,790 --> 00:06:16,750 \h FOALE: Well, that's the neat thing about being an astronaut today. 77 00:06:16,750 --> 00:06:22,190 \h At least a government astronaut in the United States is you get to meet all these other partner 78 00:06:22,190 --> 00:06:26,060 \h nations and their astronauts and their engineers and support people. 79 00:06:26,060 --> 00:06:31,830 \h It's a little tough for me as a scientist and physicist who wasn't very good at languages initially in 80 00:06:31,830 --> 00:06:38,990 \h school to have to learn Russian for example and I speak Russian really well now, fluently as a result of living many, 81 00:06:38,990 --> 00:06:42,430 \h many years in Russian and flying on the International Space Station. 82 00:06:42,430 --> 00:06:48,740 \h But that, that, all those new friends, that new experience is extraordinarily valuable to me personally, 83 00:06:48,740 --> 00:06:56,890 \h and I welcome the day when -- I met Souichi outside just now, when I can start learning some Japanese. 84 00:06:56,890 --> 00:07:05,070 \h I'd like to be assigned to a space station mission in the future where I get to travel to Japan, 85 00:07:05,070 --> 00:07:07,600 \h you know, and learn about the experiments they're going to do in their laboratory Kibo. 86 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:13,560 \h BEUTEL: Hint, hint, to management. Actually Kibo is an extensive and complex addition to the International Space Station. 87 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:18,020 \h Let's take a closer look, with NASA Payload Mission Manager Scott Higginbotham. 88 00:07:18,020 --> 00:07:22,080 \h SCOTT HIGGINBOTHAM: The Japanese Experiment Module is named Kibo -- meaning "hope." 89 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:25,160 \h Kibo is actually made up of five major segments delivered to the 90 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:30,110 \h International Space Station over the course of three space shuttle missions. 91 00:07:30,110 --> 00:07:36,040 \h The diverse elements making up Kibo will allow the space station crew to conduct experiments both inside in microgravity 92 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:39,780 \h -- and outside in the direct exposure to space. 93 00:07:39,780 --> 00:07:44,390 \h The larger of the two pressurized modules will serve as the working laboratory. 94 00:07:44,390 --> 00:07:51,930 \h A smaller pressurized logistics module that sits atop the laboratory will be used primarily for storage of tools and supplies. 95 00:07:51,930 --> 00:07:58,400 \h On the outside are two more segments -- the exposed facility to hold experiments -- and a logistics platform. 96 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:02,620 \h The final piece is a robotic arm attached to the laboratory. 97 00:08:02,620 --> 00:08:07,670 \h The arm will allow astronauts inside the lab to access the external facilities and experiments. 98 00:08:07,670 --> 00:08:18,260 \h Attached to the space station's Harmony module, the arrival of Kibo greatly expands the scientific work of the orbiting outpost. 99 00:08:18,260 --> 00:08:21,910 \h BEUTEL: As luck would have it we happen to have a model of Kibo. 100 00:08:21,910 --> 00:08:26,260 \h Let's kind of go through in general what's up there now and what's not. 101 00:08:26,260 --> 00:08:31,660 \h FOALE: Well the only thing that's up there right now is the logistics module which was launched on the last mission. 102 00:08:31,660 --> 00:08:36,860 \h To set the scene here, the space station is flying this way and the space shuttle is 103 00:08:36,860 --> 00:08:40,860 \h docked here and this module is attached to the Harmony Node, 104 00:08:40,860 --> 00:08:44,460 \h Node 2 on the zenith, on the opposite side of the station. 105 00:08:44,460 --> 00:08:50,670 \h Once Kibo is pulled out of the space shuttle's payload bay it'll be attached to the port side of the space station traveling this way and 106 00:08:50,670 --> 00:08:56,970 \h then they'll move this logistics module from the top of Harmony and stick it on top of Kibo. 107 00:08:56,970 --> 00:09:04,190 \h This piece will come out later on, next year, I think it is and represent external experiments that 108 00:09:04,190 --> 00:09:09,740 \h will be done using the vacuum of space. It's a pretty harsh vacuum but very, very good for material science 109 00:09:09,740 --> 00:09:12,960 \h and for studying the properties of new and modern materials. 110 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:19,350 \h There's an arm mounted on the Kibo that's going up on the shuttle, on Discovery, and it's 30 foot long. 111 00:09:19,350 --> 00:09:23,930 \h It will be used to manipulate the experiments that are out here on this pallet. 112 00:09:23,930 --> 00:09:31,290 \h In addition, there's a scientific airlock in the middle there and it's not an airlock that lets humans in spacesuits do EVAs. 113 00:09:31,290 --> 00:09:36,420 \h It's an airlock that allows experiments here to be passed out and put on the pallet 114 00:09:36,420 --> 00:09:43,320 \h using the arm or brought back in through the airlock to be used and studied by the astronauts that are inside. 115 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:47,240 \h BEUTEL: And just for clarification's sake people will wonder, we are taking up the main part of the robotic arm? 116 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:51,170 \h A six-foot extension to it will be added on another flight. 117 00:09:51,170 --> 00:09:54,560 \h FOALE: And that's called a "fine arm." And it's much more dexterous, 118 00:09:54,560 --> 00:10:00,490 \h it's more detailed work that it can do and it's carried at the end of this 32-foot arm. 119 00:10:00,490 --> 00:10:03,520 \h BEUTEL: Let's see this is actually a very good time for to go to questions that people have submitted 120 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:07,690 \h on our question board at NASA.gov so I'll jump right into it and say, the first one 121 00:10:07,690 --> 00:10:11,060 \h Robert from Ontario asks: How many hours of EVA training are required for 122 00:10:11,060 --> 00:10:14,370 \h every hour spent outside the station on an actual spacewalk? 123 00:10:14,370 --> 00:10:22,730 \h FOALE: Roughly about seven to one or ten to one. So if you're going to do one EVA on a space shuttle mission, 124 00:10:22,730 --> 00:10:27,120 \h to build something, do some of the space station assembly or get an experiment out there, 125 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:34,160 \h it would take roughly ten times the six hours of EVA, about 60 hours or so, 70 hours of training. 126 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:38,350 \h BEUTEL: And you're training in big pools. 127 00:10:38,350 --> 00:10:43,900 \h FOALE: Yes, of course that training, we don't, we forgot to mention that that's in a big water tank, 128 00:10:43,900 --> 00:10:48,890 \h a huge water tank, where a large part of the space station is submerged full-scale 129 00:10:48,890 --> 00:10:54,530 \h and then we work in that water in spacesuits as if it was weightless. But of course it's not, 130 00:10:54,530 --> 00:11:00,040 \h we can feel weight inside the suit. But our bodies basically move as if they were in space. 131 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:02,080 \h BEUTEL: Let's go to the next question. Bill from Ann Arbor asks: 132 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:05,840 \h Are there any plans to lengthen crew stays on the International Space Station so we'll better understand 133 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:09,820 \h what astronauts will experience on a future journey to Mars? 134 00:11:09,820 --> 00:11:14,630 \h FOALE: Six months is what we do on the space station. I've lived on the space station six months and 135 00:11:14,630 --> 00:11:21,030 \h that is good enough to get to Mars and get back from Mars using chemical rockets. 136 00:11:21,030 --> 00:11:25,830 \h It's possible that we might go slower, but I think it's unlikely. And in that case, 137 00:11:25,830 --> 00:11:32,350 \h yes there would be value in extending the missions on the International Space Station. But right now, no plans to do that. 138 00:11:32,350 --> 00:11:36,070 \h BEUTEL: Well, let's see, we've actually been getting a lot of other questions that 139 00:11:36,070 --> 00:11:39,170 \h for something that really is not part of the original cargo for Discovery. 140 00:11:39,170 --> 00:11:43,340 \h But we added some, some, some pieces for the International Space Station this week. 141 00:11:43,340 --> 00:11:48,180 \h People have heard about. We have a broken -- a partially working toilet on the space station. 142 00:11:48,180 --> 00:11:51,910 \h We added some parts that we'll be taking up including a pump to help that. 143 00:11:51,910 --> 00:11:55,580 \h The fact is you, my man, have actually (laughter) used the facilities there, 144 00:11:55,580 --> 00:12:00,100 \h so just briefly, how again, we get asked this all the time. 145 00:12:00,100 --> 00:12:08,330 \h FOALE: A toilet is really, really a key part of the space station. It's terrible if the toilet breaks because it makes life very difficult. 146 00:12:08,330 --> 00:12:12,900 \h The big issue, the great advantage of being in space, of course, is that it's weightless. 147 00:12:12,900 --> 00:12:15,900 \h You can do experiments with that environment that you can't do on Earth. 148 00:12:15,900 --> 00:12:23,360 \h But it has its complications and especially for the toilet. And the key is that urine in this case is a liquid, 149 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:27,980 \h it forms a nice yellow ball if you put it out in the open -- and it shouldn't be. 150 00:12:27,980 --> 00:12:31,190 \h It'll wobble and stick together through its surface tension. 151 00:12:31,190 --> 00:12:37,020 \h But if you try to get it into a bag or into a tank it won't go. It's going to stick to walls -- and it won't move. 152 00:12:37,020 --> 00:12:42,650 \h And so the toilet specifically has a vacuum cleaner type of arrangement where it blows air through 153 00:12:42,650 --> 00:12:48,310 \h tubes and tries to get that liquid air mixture to go in towards the tank. 154 00:12:48,310 --> 00:12:52,350 \h Well, how you get the liquid to go into the tank and the air to separate? 155 00:12:52,350 --> 00:12:56,490 \h And that's what's called a liquid-air separator it's like a centrifuge in a way, 156 00:12:56,490 --> 00:13:01,940 \h and peels off the liquid in one direction and the air in the other. And that's what failed and that's what's 157 00:13:01,940 --> 00:13:08,780 \h being delivered now on this shuttle, Discovery, to help the crew that are onboard the station right now. 158 00:13:08,780 --> 00:13:13,420 \h BEUTEL: I guess if you had to have this happen it's not bad to have it right before a shuttle flight to bring parts up. 159 00:13:13,420 --> 00:13:19,490 \h FOALE: That's true, yeah, otherwise you could be doing a lot of maintenance. In fact, we should say right away, 160 00:13:19,490 --> 00:13:25,040 \h they can go to the bathroom, it's just using a lot more water than they normally do and it's a lot more complicated, 161 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:28,050 \h they're having to do extra flushing basically to keep the urine in the right place. 162 00:13:28,050 --> 00:13:30,540 \h BEUTEL: But these are the kind of things that we have to develop on the fly. 163 00:13:30,540 --> 00:13:36,680 \h FOALE: Absolutely! Living, working in space you're learning all kinds of stuff about how the pumps work, how they don't work. 164 00:13:36,680 --> 00:13:41,160 \h You're learning about how to make machinery and equipment work that 165 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:45,910 \h would allow us to do colonies in space, for example -- live for a long time, not just six months. 166 00:13:45,910 --> 00:13:51,020 \h Same technology will be used going to Mars and the same technology, or similar technologies 167 00:13:51,020 --> 00:13:55,160 \h will be used on the Moon and then Mars when we have colonies there. 168 00:13:55,160 --> 00:14:00,100 \h BEUTEL: Well, alright, that's interesting way to leave us. And I do appreciate you joining us and thanks for stopping by Mike. 169 00:14:00,100 --> 00:14:01,430 \h FOALE: Thank you, it was a pleasure. 170 00:14:01,430 --> 00:14:05,690 \h BEUTEL: And tonight at about 8:30 p.m. Eastern time, the rotating service structure 171 00:14:05,690 --> 00:14:09,820 \h -- the protective covering for the shuttle at the pad -- will be rolled away from shuttle Discovery. 172 00:14:09,820 --> 00:14:15,720 \h And liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen are set to begin flowing into that external fuel tank a little after 7:45 a.m. tomorrow. 173 00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:19,290 \h Right now the weather forecast calls for about an 80 percent chance of good 174 00:14:19,290 --> 00:14:22,370 \h weather so our fingers are crossed and we'll be looking towards the sky. 175 00:14:22,370 --> 00:14:30,240 \h To follow the launch countdown, tune in live to NASA television, or click your way over to www.nasa.gov/shuttle 176 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:34,510 \h to find NASA's launch blog for online play-by-play of the action leading up to the