Japan May Delay in Shipment of Experimental Module to US

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, February 05, 2003

Japan May Delay in Shipment of Experimental Module to US

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Japan may delay the scheduled shipment of the experimental module "Kibo" (Hope) to the United States in March due to the breakup of the US space shuttle Columbia that left all seven crew members dead.

"We don't know what's going to happen even if it were sent," Atsuko Toyama, minister of education, culture, sports, science andtechnology, was quoted by Kyodo News Tuesday.

"We will decide eventually in consultations with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration," Toyama said.

Japan has planned to ship the experimental module in March to launch it on board a US space shuttle in 2006 and dock it at the International Space Station.

Toyama also said that 16 participating countries in the space station project will meet in the near future.

US space shuttles are the main vehicles for ferrying astronautsand equipment to the space station, Kyodo said.

The Columbia broke up and disintegrated Saturday before it was due to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, following a 16-day space mission, Kyodo added.

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