4月5日号 1面
Rising Hopes
日本初の宇宙拠点「きぼう」の大役果たし、土井さん帰還
Just like the boomerang he threw during an experiment in space, Japanese astronaut Doi Takao is back after the space shuttle Endeavour landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on March 26.
During the shuttle's 16‐day mission, Doi, 53, attached the storage compartment for the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Kibo to the International Space Station, giving Japan its first‐ ever space in space.
"It was a great moment not only for me, but for Japan," Doi said just before the Endeavour got ready to land.
During the mission, during which the shuttle traveled 10.46 million kilometers, Doi set up the first section of Kibo, which will be completed on later shuttle missions to take place at the end of this year and next year.
JEM Project Manager Yokoyama Tetsuro from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) told a news conference at the Johnson Space Center in Texas during the mission about the importance of Kibo.
"Kibo is as big an accomplishment for the Japanese as the Apollo 11 moon landings," he said.
JAXA hopes to have Kibo operating for about 10 years. In its first two to three years, about 100 experiments are planned for the space laboratory. The next stage of Kibo's construction will be carried out when astronaut Hoshide Akihiko flies on a space shuttle Discovery mission due to take off in late May. Within this year, flight engineer Wakata Koichi is also expected to fly to Kibo and spend several months working there.
(Mainichi Weekly)
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【WORDS 単語をチェック】
boomerang ブーメラン experiment 実験 space 宇宙（後出 space in space は宇宙での空間、施設） astronaut 宇宙飛行士 land 着陸する mission 任務 attach ～ to ... ～を…に取り付ける storage compartment 保管室 experiment module 実験棟 first‐ever 初めての get ready 準備する set up 組み立てる complete 完成する take place 行われる Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency 宇宙航空研究開発機構 accomplishment 偉業 moon landing 月面着陸 operate 機能する laboratory 実験室 construction 組立 due to ～ ～する予定である take off 離陸する
