Workers observe the movement of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo Exposed Facility or EF as it is lowered toward a stand.

In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers observe the movement of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo Exposed Facility, or EF, as it is lowered toward a stand. The EF, along with the Experiment Logistics Module Exposed Section, will be carried aboard space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-127 mission to the International Space Station targeted for launch May 15, 2009. When it is installed on the Kibo laboratory,the EF will provide a multipurpose platform where science experiments can be deployed and operated in the exposed environment. The payloads attached to the EF can be exchanged or retrieved by Kibo's robotic arm, the JEM Remote Manipulator System. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett