Astronauts on the international space station Monday flexed some of the muscles on a robotic arm attached to a new Japanese lab they delivered and helped install on the orbiting outpost. The $1 billion lab’s robotic arm got its first thorough checkout during a two-hour procedure where it was fully extended, and all six of its joints were moved. The 33-foot robotic arm was first moved on Saturday, but only very slightly. “It was such a pretty view, we just wanted to share it with you guys,” Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide told flight controllers near Tokyo as he operated the arm.
