Japanese scientists count down to space module launch

From: China Daily | Date: June 21, 2006 | Copyright information

When the US space shuttle Discovery blasts off next month, Japanese scientists will find out if their multi-billion dollar project a laboratory module has a chance of bearing fruit or is fated to become a museum piece.

Tokyo's contribution to the International Space Station, "Kibo," or "hope" in Japanese, has taken 1,300 people almost 20 years to develop.

"If anything happens to the space shuttle, we can't launchKibo," Shigeki Kamigaichi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), who manages the 330 billion yen (US$2.86 billion) project, said in an interview at the space centre.

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