STS-127 crew members get a look at the antenna in the Inter Orbit Communication System Extended Facility or ICS-EF.

In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, STS-127 crew members get a look at the antenna in the Inter Orbit Communication System Extended Facility, or ICS-EF. Standing next to a Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, technician at left are Mission Specialists Dave Wolf and Christopher Cassidy and Commander Mark Polansky. Equipment familiarization is part of a Crew Equipment Interface Test. The antenna and a pointing mechanism will be used to communicate with JAXA’s Data Relay Test Satellite, or DRTS. The ICS-EF will be launched, along with the Extended Facility and Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section, to the International Space Station aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-127 mission targeted for launch on May 15, 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett