jaxa

Endeavour carried a wide variety of equipment and cargo in the payload bay, with the largest item being the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility (JEM EF), and the Kibo Japanese Experiment Logistics Module – Exposed Section (ELM-ES). The exposed facility is a part of Kibo that will allow astronauts to perform science experiments that are exposed to the vacuum of space. The exposed section is similar to the logistics module on the Kibo laboratory, but is not pressurized. Once its payloads were transferred to the JEM EF, the ELM-ES was returned to the payload bay.

STS-123 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which was flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour. STS-123 was the 1J/A ISS assembly mission.

Soichi Noguchi (野口 聡一 Noguchi Sōichi?, born 15 April 1965 in Yokohama, Japan) is a Japanese aeronautical engineer and a JAXA astronaut. His first spaceflight was as a Mission Specialist aboard STS-114 on 26 July 2005 for NASA's first "return to flight" Space Shuttle mission after the Columbia disaster. He was most recently in space as part of the Soyuz TMA-17 crew and Expedition 22 to the International Space Station, returning to Earth on 2 June 2010. He is the fifth Japanese astronaut to fly in space and the fourth to fly on the space shuttle.

This patch differs slightly from the official Noguchi personal patch, which has a white overlock border. Randy Hunt also took the liberty to add the rest of the crew to the patch. There is also an alternate Noguchi "Return to Flight" personal patch from Randy Hunt. 

Soichi Noguchi (野口 聡一 Noguchi Sōichi?, born 15 April 1965 in Yokohama, Japan) is a Japanese aeronautical engineer and a JAXA astronaut. His first spaceflight was as a Mission Specialist aboard STS-114 on 26 July 2005 for NASA's first "return to flight" Space Shuttle mission after the Columbia disaster. He was most recently in space as part of the Soyuz TMA-17 crew and Expedition 22 to the International Space Station, returning to Earth on 2 June 2010. He is the fifth Japanese astronaut to fly in space and the fourth to fly on the space shuttle.

This patch differs slightly from the official Noguchi "Return to Flight" patch, which has a white overlock border. Randy Hunt also took the liberty to add the rest of the crew to the patch. There is also an alternate Noguchi personal patch from Randy Hunt. 

Chiaki Mukai (向井 千秋 Mukai Chiaki?, born May 6, 1952, Tatebayashi, Gunma, Japan) is a Japanese doctor, and JAXA astronaut. She was the first Japanese woman in space, and was the first Japanese citizen to have two spaceflights. Both were Space Shuttle missions; her first was STS-65 aboard Space Shuttle Columbia in July 1994, which was a Spacelab mission. Her second spaceflight was STS-95 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998. In total she has spent 23 days in space.
Mukai was selected to be an astronaut by Japanese national space agency NASDA (now called JAXA) in 1985. Prior to this, she was an assistant professor in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery in Keio University, the oldest university in Japan.

ASTRO-E was launched at 10:30 AM February 10, 2000 (Japan Standard Time). Unfortunately, it did not achieve orbit. 42 seconds into the flight, the first stage nozzle failed, causing a loss of thrust and near complete loss of attitude control. The second and third stages worked properly, but were not able to make up the loss of altitude from the first stage. The satellite was not contacted on the first orbit, and is assumed to have reentered and burned up.

The Okinawa Tracking and Communication Station was established in February 1968 as the Okinawa Radiowave Tracking Base of the then Science and Technology Agency (STA) Space Development Headquarters, which was affiliated with the then National Space Development Agency (NASDA) as its facility when NASDA was established in October 1969. In October 2003, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was established, and the station became a JAXA facility.
The main role of the Station is to track and control satellites. It plays a role to maintain and control satellites by receiving radio waves from satellites in space to confirm their positions and attitudes and to learn if their onboard electronic devices are functioning properly. If necessary, command signals are also transmitted from the station to satellites.

The Okinawa Tracking and Communication Station was established in February 1968 as the Okinawa Radiowave Tracking Base of the then Science and Technology Agency (STA) Space Development Headquarters, which was affiliated with the then National Space Development Agency (NASDA) as its facility when NASDA was established in October 1969. In October 2003, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was established, and the station became a JAXA facility.
The main role of the Station is to track and control satellites. It plays a role to maintain and control satellites by receiving radio waves from satellites in space to confirm their positions and attitudes and to learn if their onboard electronic devices are functioning properly. If necessary, command signals are also transmitted from the station to satellites.