The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Washington

Astronauts on Wednesday opened the International Space Station's newest and biggest room, a bus-sized Japanese laboratory providing the Asian power its first manned space facility.

Capping a busy day in space that included repairs of a faulty station toilet and long preparations for the lab's inauguration, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide smiled as he inaugurated his country's Kibo facility.

"This is a great moment for the Japanese folks," Hoshide said before floating into the lab, whose name Kibo means "hope" in Japanese. "It's a beautiful module and we have a new hope on the space station."

Hoshide and American colleague Karen Nyberg entered first, wearing protective goggles and masks to check the air quality.

Hoshide waved a "welcome" at a camera before the station's eight other occupants floated in.

Showing off the 15-tonne lab's roomy interior, the eight astronauts and two Russian cosmonauts performed backflips and twirled as they floated around Kibo.

Hoshide, Nyberg and five other Americans arrived at the station aboard the US space shuttle Discovery on Monday, carrying Kibo in its payload bay. The lab was attached to the station on Tuesday with a robotic arm.

At 11.2 meters (36.7 feet) long, the facility is bigger than its American and European counterparts. NASA's Destiny module is 8.5 meters long while Europe's Columbus facility, which was installed in February, measures 6.8 meters.

Kibo's 10-meter (33-foot) robotic arm, which will manipulate materials and equipment for science experiments, will also be installed during the Discovery mission.

Shuttle Endeavour already brought one piece of the laboratory in March-a logistics module that will be used for storage.

The third and final part of the lab-an outdoor facility that will allow experiments to be exposed to the effects of space-will be delivered next year.

When completed, Kibo will allow astronauts to carry out experiments in medicine, biology and biotechnology, material production and communications, both in a pressurized environment and completely exposed to space.