Shuttle ready to deliver lab, new toilet pump

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – With good weather in the offing and no bumps in the countdown, NASA pushed ahead with today’s planned launch of space shuttle Discovery on a delivery trip to the international space station.

The mission has taken on new urgency – the seven shuttle astronauts will take up a new pump for the space station’s malfunctioning toilet.

They’re also ferrying a $1 billion Japanese space lab that has been more than 20 years in the making.

Dozens of Japanese journalists and space program officials jammed NASA’s launch site Friday, their excitement growing with every passing hour of the countdown. As many as 400 Japanese were expected for the late afternoon launch.

The Japanese lab – named Kibo, which means hope – will be the biggest room at the space station once it’s installed. It’s 37 feet long and more than 32,000 pounds, and fills Discovery’s entire payload bay.