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Music.

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The launch of space shuttle Endeavour lit up dark skies along the east coast of Florida on March 11, 2008.

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On board were STS-123 Commander Dom Gorie; Pilot Greg Johnson; and Mission Specialists Bob Behnken (BANK-en),

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Mike Foreman, Rick Linnehan, Garrett Reisman (REESE-man), and Takao Doi (tah-cowe DOY)

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from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, also known as JAXA.

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Inside Endeavour's payload bay were the mission's primary payloads: the first section of the JAXA's Kibo laboratory

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and the Canadian Space Agency's two-armed robotic system, known as Dextre (Dex-ter).

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After a two-day orbital chase, Endeavour caught up to the station and Gorie gently maneuvered

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the winged orbiter to a smooth docking at 11:49 p.m. Eastern.

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With docking complete, Reisman took his place aboard the station as the Expedition 16

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Flight Engineer replacing European Space Agency astronaut Léopold Eyharts (a'-arts).

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The mission's toughest tasks still lay ahead, beginning with the first spacewalk on flight day four.

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Linnehan and Reisman spent seven hours in the vacuum of space as they prepared the Japanese

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Experiment Logistics Module-Pressurized Section for its move to the station.

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Then, with Doi at the controls and Gorie assisting, the module was installed at its temporary home on the Harmony Node.

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The spacewalking duo also began assembly of the Dextre robot by installing the

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mechanisms that act as the robot's two hands.

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Japan's presence on the space station became official the following day as Doi and station

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Commander Peggy Whitson opened the hatch to the pressurized logistics module.

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During the second spacewalk, Linnehan and Foreman attached both of Dextre's 11-foot-long arms.

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Once Reisman and Behnken tested the arms' joint brakes, they moved the arms,

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bringing the robot to life and setting the stage for the mission's third spacewalk.

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On that seven-hour excursion, Linnehan and Behnken finished assembling Dextre by installing a

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tool holder along with the camera assembly that will serve as the robot's eyes.

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Finally, Eyharts and Johnson used the station's Canadarm2 to move the robot to its

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new location on top of the U.S. Destiny laboratory.

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The highlight of the fourth spacewalk was a test of a special caulk-gun-like device called the

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Tile Repair Ablator Dispenser, or "T-RAD."

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Behnken and Foreman used the device to apply a gooey substance called Shuttle Tile Ablator-54

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to samples of heat shield tiles that were intentionally damaged for testing.

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The test samples will be analyzed on Earth to determine how well the repair technique works.

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The pair teamed up again two days later for the mission's fifth -- and final -- spacewalk.

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Over the course of six hours, they temporarily stowed the shuttle's heat shield inspection tool,

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the Orbiter Boom Sensor System on the station's truss, installed the MISSE-6 experiment,

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and inspected the station's right Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, or SARJ (sarge).

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Endeavour pulled away from the International Space Station at 8:25 p.m. Eastern March 24,

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wrapping up a record 12 days of docked operations.

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On Endeavour's 250th orbit of the Earth, the orbiter and its STS-123 crew touched down at 8:39 p.m. on March 26

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on Kennedy Space Center's Runway 15, for the 22nd night landing of the shuttle program.

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