WASHINGTON (AFP) — When space shuttle Endeavour launches Tuesday it will carry Japan's first space lab to the International Space Station, giving the country a prized spot alongside the United States, Russia and Europe.
With meteorologists reporting 90 percent favorable conditions for liftoff, Endeavour is set to launch at 2:28 am (0628 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The crew of seven, including Japanese astronaut Takao Doi, has already assembled there for the 16-day mission.
A main task at the ISS will be installing the first stage of the Japanese laboratory called Kibo, a micro-gravity research facility which aims to open a vital new stage in deeper space exploration.
The Europeans joined the elite space grouping in February with the long-overdue delivery of its Columbus laboratory via the Atlantis shuttle.
As with Columbus, the installation of Kibo on the ISS was delayed when the February 2003 Columbia shuttle disaster put all launches by the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) on hold for two years.
Kibo, which means "hope" in Japanese, will be delivered in three stages. Once installed, it will complete the research nucleus of the ISS along with the American, Russian and European laboratories.
It will be the largest by far of the four research modules on board the station and represents Japan's most important offering to the project, to which the island nation has contributed a total of 10 billion dollars.
Commander Dominic Gorie, who arrived with his crew Saturday at Kennedy Space Center in the midst of a heavy rainstorm, said his team was ready for the longest mission ever at the ISS.
"I think once we get the weather done today we'll have a good shot at launching this week," Gorie said.
Several of Kibo's experiments, focusing in part on medicine, biology, biotechnology and communications, are seen as crucial steps in preparing further missions to the Moon and even human missions to Mars.
The shuttle will be carrying the first stage of the Kibo lab, ELM-PS, a 4.2-ton logistics module measuring 3.9 meters (12.8 feet) long and 4.4 meters (14.4 feet) in diameter.
Its key component, the Pressurized Module (PM) with a remote-control robotic arm, is expected to be transported to the ISS on space shuttle Discovery due to launch May 25.
The PM is a massive 11.2-meter-long (36.7 feet) cylinder weighing 15.9 tons.
The final Kibo installment, an inter-orbit communications system unit called the Exposed Facility, is slated for delivery in March 2009.
The mission team will have to venture out on five space walks to set up the first Kibo installment and other tasks, totaling about 30 hours of work.
Endeavour will also deliver a piece of hardware from Canada -- a component for the robotic arm named Dextre, which is used for delicate tasks normally reserved for an astronaut on a space walk.
Accompanying Gorie, 50, will be co-pilot Gregory Johnson, 45, mission specialists Rick Linnehan, 50, Robert Behnken, 37, Mike Foreman, 50, Garret Reisman, 40, and Doi, 53, from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Four of the astronauts will be making their maiden voyages into space on Endeavour Tuesday.
After this mission NASA plans another 10, including four more in 2008, to complete construction of the ISS by September 30, 2010, when NASA's three-shuttle fleet is to be retired.
The ISS is a 100-billion-dollar project involving 17 countries including 11 members of the European Space Agency.
On Sunday, the European Space Agency carried out the maiden launch of a massive robot freighter designed to rendezvous automatically with the orbital space station.
After being placed in orbit, the cylinder-shaped Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) will deploy its solar panels and gently find its way to the ISS and berth with it.
The ATV will deliver seven and a half tons of food, water, pressurized air, fuel and personal items to the ISS crew.
After six months or so, the craft will detach from the ISS, taking with it rubbish accumulated during the station's mission. The trash and freighter will then safely disintegrate over the Pacific, mission scientists say.
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