Astronaut unfolds space station's new robot arm

By Irene Klotz

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Space shuttle Discovery astronaut Akihiko Hoshide unfolded the International Space Station's new Japanese-built robotic arm on Monday, although there was nothing around for it to grasp.

The 33-foot (10-metre) crane is part of the elaborate Kibo laboratory, which was built in Japan and installed aboard the space station during Discovery's current mission.

Next year, NASA plans to launch an outdoor platform with telescopes and science experiments that will be Kibo's final section. The robot arm will be used to tend that equipment, saving the time, cost and risk of spacewalks by astronauts.

"Good job," Japan's new mission control center told Hoshide, as he unfurled the arm for the first time from a control station inside Kibo.

Television cameras from aboard the space station showed the arm fully outstretched as the outpost soared 210 miles above Earth.

The shuttle crew is nearing the end of its nine-day stay at the station. Hatches between the two ships are scheduled to be sealed on Tuesday and Discovery's departure is planned for Wednesday. The shuttle's two-week flight is to end on Saturday with a touchdown at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

While Hoshide tested Japan's new crane, crewmates Michael Fossum and Ronald Garan cleaned up from their three spacewalks and began packing gear back aboard the shuttle.

In addition to installing and outfitting Kibo, the station's largest laboratory, the spacewalkers worked on the station's cooling system and inspected both of the giant rotary joints that pivot panels of solar wings to track the sun for power. One joint is contaminated with metal shavings and the other had a thin layer of as-yet-undetermined particles on its main metal ring.