Shuttle to deliver robot arm to Alpha

A drawing of the new robot arm for space station Alpha

(CNN) -- The international space station is about to get a helping arm.

Preparations are under way for the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour on April 19 from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The mission is scheduled to last 11 days.

Endeavour will carry a seven-member crew to deliver a Canadian-built robot arm for Alpha. NASA calls it a "next generation arm," similar to, but more dexterous than the arm used on space shuttles.

Canadarm2 is longer, and can move about the space station on a track -- when it moves, it will be unlike anything seen before, in space or on Earth.

The arm will have no permanent attachment to the station. With grapple fixtures on each end, the 56-foot (17-meter) arm will move hand over hand along the station's walls, using a series of power and data ports for each step. One end will remain attached to a power port while the other end looks for the next port, giving it the tail-over-head movement of an inchworm.

"The first time we'll ever have two arms flying together in space," said Commander Kent Rominger.

There are three spacewalks on the books for this mission, including one to put together the new arm and "bring it to life," according to mission specialist Chris Hadfield.

Hadfield will take the first spacewalk ever by a Canadian astronaut to help install the arm. He said it will be like Christmas Eve, and not just because he's delivering a gift for Alpha -- the arm will require lots of assembly.

Shaking arms

The new arm will even shake hands with the old arm, sort of. It's being carried up in a cradle. After it's unpacked and installed on the station, the crew will use the new arm to pick up the cradle and hand it to the shuttle arm, said Chris Hadfield, who will operate the shuttle arm.

Seated is Commander Kent Rominger, left, and pilot Jeff Ashby. Standing, from the left are mission specialists, Yuri Lonchakov, Scott Parazynski, Umberto Guidoni, Chris Hadfield and John Phillips

"I'll reach up with the shuttle arm, almost like passing a baton from the new arm to the old arm," said Hadfield.

The shuttle arm then will pack the cradle in Endeavour's cargo bay.

Canada is paying almost $1 billion (C$1.4 billion) for the arm and its components. By comparison, the station's most expensive module, the U.S. laboratory Destiny, cost $1.4 billion.

Endeavour also will carry up the second cargo module built by the Italian Space Agency. The a module, named Raffaello, will include more research equipment than any previous flight. The first module, Leonardo, flew aboard Discovery on the last shuttle mission that ended March 21.

Endeavour's crew includes:

 •  Commander Kent Rominger, U.S.

 •  Pilot Jeff Ashby, U.S.

 •  Mission Specialist Chris Hadfield, Canada

 •  Mission Specialist John Phillips, U.S.

 •  Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski, U.S.

 •  Mission Specialist Umberto Guidoni, Italy

 •  Mission Specialist Yuri Lonchakov, Russia

Reuters contributed to this report.

NASA Homepage
Canadian Space Agency - Agence spatiale canadienne
European Space Agency

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.