STS-123 Update

Shuttle Endeavour has now safely docked at ISS, and the meat of the mission has already begun. The big robot arm on ISS, built in Canada, has already started moving cargo from the shuttle's payload bay to the station. On this mission, that arm will be joined by Dexter, a two-armed robot, also built in Canada, that will be able to move along the outside of ISS to perform tasks. Dexter is designed to cut down on the number of spacewalks astronauts need to undertake. It is the first of what will likely become a class of robots that will become standard equipment on space stations and habitats, interplanetary ships, and eventually interstellar ships-- doing maintenance on hulls in the harsh environment of space.

So far, after an inspection by the ISS crew, there seems no cause for concern about Endeavour's heat tile blanket. NASA engineers will study detailed photographs of the ship's underbelly to make a final determination.