Japan’s HTV-9 Leaves ISS as It Ends Final Mission Written 19 August 2020
Japanese H-II Transport Vehicle-6 (HTV-6) cargo vehicle grappled by the International Space Station's robotic arm, December 2016. | NASA
SPACE reports that the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) “ninth H-II Transfer Vehicle, or HTV-9, was released from its temporary perch at the end of the space station’s robotic arm on Tuesday (Aug. 18) at 1:36 p.m. EDT.” The “uncrewed cargo vehicle...will spend two more days in orbit before flight controllers in Tsukuba, Japan, command an engine burn that it will send the spacecraft plunging back into Earth’s atmosphere.” The “de-orbit will mark the end of 11 years of HTV missions.” NASA ISS Program Manager Joel Montalbano said, “Over the past 11 years, the H-II Transfer Vehicle Kounotori has delivered over 40 tons of cargo, research, hardware and equipment to the International Space Station. ... I want to congratulate Japan on the HTV missions.”
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