The International Space Station's robot arm moves the JapanesePressurized Module from the space shuttle Discovery's payload bayto its new home on the station. (NASA TV) A newly installed Japanese laboratory will open its doors to therest of the International Space Station on Wednesday, allowingastronauts their first opportunity to step inside what is now thestation's largest room. Astronauts from the station and space shuttle Discovery installedthe largest piece of the $1 billion US space lab on Tuesday eveningusing the station's Canadarm 2 robotic arm. The new Japanese Pressurized Module is a tour-bus sized laboratory11.3 metres long and weighing more than 14,515 kilograms. It's thesecond of three parts of Japan's Kibo laboratory to be installed atthe station. The first component, essentially a storage closet, wasinstalled in March. The third component, an "outdoor" platform forexperiments needing exposure to the environment of space, isscheduled to arrive in 2009. Kibo arrived with the space shuttle Discovery, which got to thestation on Monday. While the space shuttle crew is busy on Wednesday preparing Kibofor activation, one of the station's two Russian cosmonauts willfix a problem that has vexed the station crew for over a week: abroken toilet. NASA has given Oleg Kononenko the task of installing a new pump forthe $19 million US One Piece Toilet after the part responsible for capturingand containing urine without gravity broke. "We'll see (Wednesday) afternoon if that does the trick or if weneed to figure out another solution," said Emily Nelson, a spacestation flight director. The crew has used the toilet on the Soyuz return capsule, but ithas a limited capacity. They have also used a backup bag collectionsystem that can be connected to the broken toilet, according toNASA public affairs officials. The pump was a late addition to Discovery's cargo. Astronauts Mike Fossum and Ron Garan, who performed the firstspacewalk of the mission on Tuesday to help install Kibo, willsleep in the station's Quest airlock on Wednesday night in advanceof their second spacewalk, scheduled for Thursday.
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