Kounotori 8 departs September 25 from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture
Tokyo … News Time
Japanese cargo spacecraft with no humans aboard, the International Space Station is connected to the ISS.Kounotori 8 departs from the Tanegashima space station in Kagoshima Prefecture on September 25th. Arriving near the spacecraft circulating in orbit about 400 km high, an astronaut captured it with the help of a machine arm. The connection to the space station was completed shortly before 3am on Sunday morning, according to Japanese time. About 40 staff was in the control room of JAXA, a Japanese space research agency located in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture. The crew transmitted details of the Kounotori to the US space agency NASA and clapped as soon as the mechanic’s hand grabbed the cargo ship. The Kounotori is 10, 8 meters long and has a diameter of 4.4 meters. About 5.3 tonnes of its equipment includes batteries for supplying water, food and electricity to astronauts based in the International Space Station and artificial planets created by the university. The first Kounotori was sent 10 years ago. This is the 8th consecutive unmanned delivery of goods to the International Space Station. Hirohiko Uematsu, director of the JAXA’s HTV Technology Center, said that early problems caused problems with operating a spacecraft 10 years ago, but the experience has led to significant improvements.
