KENNEDY SPACE CENTER -- The crew of space shuttle Endeavour arrived at the Kennedy Space Center Saturday morning to begin preparations for the next launch, just a few weeks away.
The shuttle crew was expected to conduct a terminal countdown test, a dress rehearsal for the 16-day mission STS-123, scheduled to launch March 11.
The shuttle would head to the International Space Station, where the crew would install the 37-foot-long Kibo Japenese Experiment Module.
Kibo -- which means "hope" in Japanese -- is 14 feet longer than the European-built Columbia space lab, installed earlier in February by the crew of shuttle Atlantis.
Once installed, Kibo would be one of the largest modules on the International Space Station.
Kibo is equipped with its own robotic arm, which astronauts would use to conduct tests in space, itself. The module would also allow for astronauts to study Earth's atmosphere.
The seven-astronaut crew of Endeavour was looking to get Kibo up into space as quickly as possible.
Only 20 days separated the landing of Atlantis and the scheduled launch of Endeavour.
NASA hoped to get six missions in flight by the end of the year, as they continue to add to the space station.
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