September 10, 2019
By Elizabeth Howell
Japan called off a planned cargo ship launch (click here) to the International Space Station today (Sept. 10) after a fire erupted on the launch platform for the mission's rocket, according to press reports.
"Today’s launch is postponed because we found a fire around the hole at the deck of the mobile launcher at 3:05 a.m. JST (2:05 p.m. EDT/1805 GMT). Now we are trying to extinguish a fire," representatives with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the rocket's builder, said in a Twitter status update.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was counting down toward the launch of an HTV-8 cargo ship atop an H-IIB rocket when the launchpad fire occurred at the Tanegashima Space Center, according to Aviation Week space editor Irene Klotz, who posted live updates from the launch site on Twitter. The fire burned for about two hours before it was extinguished, and no injuries were reported, Klotz said.
The cause of the fire, and whether it caused any damage to the H-IIB rocket, have yet to be determined, Klotz added.....
Then a successful liftoff.
September 24, 2019
By Darrell Etherington
Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) (click here) has successfully launched one of its H-IIB rockets, carrying a payload of supplies, experimental materials and new replacement batteries to help power the International Space Station. The rocket, commissioned by Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency, took off from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center at its scheduled instantaneous launch window of 12:05 PM EDT (1:05 AM JST), succeeding during its second try after an initial attempt was scrubbed earlier this month.
This is the eighth launch of the H-IIB, and its H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), and it’s the second-to-last planned mission for the H-IIB before this series of MHI rocket is retired. It’s set to be replaced by the higher-capacity, lower-cost H3, which MHI hopes to fly for the first time next year.
The HTV-8 (aka “Kounotori-8”) mission will deliver a load of cargo to the ISS, separated across both a pressurized and an unpressurized cargo compartment on the HTV unpiloted spacecraft, which will dock with the ISS for unloading....
Then the astronauts got bored waiting for the supply ship so they made AstroSlime.
By Mike Whener
Earlier this week, Japanese space agency JAXA fired off a new resupply to the International Space Station. With such a busy week aboard the ISS — new crew members also arrived this week — the shipment of science experiments and supplies has somewhat flown under the radar, but now it’s crunch time, and the resupply mission is expected to arrive at the orbiting laboratory on Saturday morning.
The cargo spacecraft from Japan is carrying over four tons of supplies for the space station, including vitals like food, along with scientific hardware and experiments. In the meantime, the crew is playing with slime. Yep, slime....
Arrival.
September 28, 2019
by Tariq Malek
A robotic Japanese cargo ship (click here) successfully arrived at the International Space Station Saturday (Sept. 28) carrying more than 4 tons of supplies, including new batteries for the outpost's solar power grid.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) HTV-8 cargo ship pulled up to the space station at 7:12 a.m. EDT (1112 GMT), where it was captured by a robotic arm wielded by NASA astronaut Christina Koch inside the orbiting lab. The station and HTV-8, also known as Kounotori 8 (Kounotori means "white stork" in Japanese), were soaring 262 miles (422 kilometers) over Angola in southern Africa at the time.
"What you all have done is a testament to what we can accomplish when international teams work together towards a common goal," Koch radioed to NASA's Mission Control in Houston and flight controllers at JAXA's Tsukuba Space Center in Japan. "We're honored to have Kounotori on board, and look forward to a successful and productive mission together."
Later today, flight controllers on Earth will use the station's robotic arm to attach HTV-8 to an Earth-facing berth on the station's U.S.-built Harmony module.
