(Recasts with quotes from inflight news conference) By Irene Klotz HOUSTON, June 9 (Reuters) - Space shuttle Discovery astronaut Akihiko Hoshide unfolded the International Space Station's new Japanese-built robotic arm on Monday, although there was nothing around for it to grasp. The 33-foot (10-metre) crane is part of the elaborate Kibo laboratory, which was built in Japan and installed aboard the space station during Discovery's current mission. Next year, NASA plans to launch an outdoor platform with telescopes and science experiments that will be Kibo's final section. The robot arm will be used to tend that equipment, saving the time, cost and risk of spacewalks by astronauts. The shuttle crew is nearing the end of its nine-day stay at the station. Hatches between the two ships are scheduled to be sealed on Tuesday and Discovery's departure is planned for Wednesday. The shuttle's two-week flight is to end on Saturday with a touchdown at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "The mission has been a great success," shuttle commander Mark Kelly said during the crew's inflight news conference. While Hoshide tested Japan's new crane, crewmates Michael Fossum and Ronald Garan cleaned up from their three spacewalks and began packing gear back aboard the shuttle. Also returning on the shuttle will be station flight engineer Garrett Reisman, who has been in orbit for three months. "As far as what I'm looking forward to the most, that's easy. I can answer that with two words and it's Simone Francis, who is my wife," Reisman said. Reisman's replacement, Greg Chamitoff, will stay behind for a six-month stint, joining the Expedition 17 crew of commander Sergei Volkov and flight engineer Oleg Kononenko, both with the Russian space agency. 'VERY SAD' "I think it's going to be very sad for me to see them go," Chamitoff said, referring to the Discovery crew's departure. "After that I'm with real good friends that I've spent years training with and they've already been here for two months, so they know how to do it and they'll show me the ropes." Meanwhile at the shuttle's Florida launch site, workers have begun cleaning up debris from the launch pad's brick, mortar and asbestos-laced flame trench, which was damaged when Discovery lifted off on May 31. NASA is not sure why about 1,000 bricks were blasted out of the underground wall, which takes the brunt of the heat and vibration from the shuttle's engines and booster rockets during liftoff. The space agency has four months until its next shuttle flight, a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, and expects to have the launch pad repaired by then. The U.S. space agency has a total of 10 more shuttle missions before the fleet is retired in 2010. (Editing by Tom Brown)
A protester holds a picture of Mikhail Khodorkovsky of Russia during a demonstration in Moscow May 31, 2008, marking the third anniversary of the date when Khodorkovsky was sentenced. The former ...
