The shuttle Discovery has been given a green light for the May 31 launch, when it will engage in the second of three flights to launch components of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory. The announcement was made on Monday, during a press conference held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, following the Flight Readiness Review.

According to Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach, all preparations are going well. He also added that shuttle work crews will be able to get some time off for the Memorial Day holiday, due to a smooth processing flow of the pre-launch preparations, and return in time for the launch.

Discovery’s STS-124 mission is to install the Kibo’s Japanese Pressurized Module (JPM) and its remote manipulator system (RMS) on the International Space Station, following the successful installation of the Japanese Experiment Logistics Module, during mission STS-123.

Before any launch, two Flight Readiness Reviews need to be conducted, a program-level review and an executive-level review. The shuttle prepares for a 14-day flight to the International Space Station, carrying the largest payload so far (the Kibo pressurized module alone weights 32,000 pounds).

Discovery will also be in charge of delivering new station crew member Greg Chamitoff and bringing Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman back home, after three months aboard the International Space Station, NASA announced.

The STS-124 mission will include three spacewalks, as follows: on day 4, astronauts Ronald J. Garan Jr. and Michael E. Fossum will transfer the Orbiter Boom Sensor back to the shuttle from its temporary location (during the last mission, the Boom Sensor was left at the station for lack of room) and then prepare for the JPM removal from the shuttle’s payload bay.

The second spacewalk will take place two days after the first one. Garan and Fossum will have the mission to install covers and external television equipment on the JPM and remove covers on the RMS, as well as prepare for the flight day 7 relocation of the Japanese Logistics Module.

The third and final spacewalk will be performed by the same astronauts, whose primary mission will be to replace a failed hydrogen tank assembly on the station’s truss with a spare one that has been temporarily stored on one of the station’s external stowage platforms.