Japanese ISS program involvement

摘要

I would like to present our purposes for participating in the human space flight activities as well as our contributions to the International Space Station (ISS) program. Japan participates in human space flight and the ISS program under three major themes: challenging advanced science and technology, contributing to social and economic activities, and strengthening the base of space activity. As the first topic, I would like to explain our elements and contributions in the ISS program. We are developing the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) named "Kibo". All elements of Kibo have been integrated and tested at the Tsukuba Space Center. We will be conducting an integrated system test this fall after which, we will ship Kibo to the Kennedy Space Center next spring.