The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will launch a H-2B rocket with the H-2 Transfer Vehicle, or HTV cargo ship from Tanegashima Island, carrying scientific instruments and drinking water to the International Space Station (ISS), on Sept. 10. Liftoff is set for 1704 GMT (1:04 p.m. EDT), or 2:04 a.m. Japanese time on Sept. 11. It will reach the ISS now in orbit six days following launch from the Japan's spaceport at the southern end ot the country [launch and docking animation].
A the first-of-a-kind cargo spacecraft for the Japanese, the American space shuttle, Russian Progress and Soyuz, and the European ATV have each resupplied the 6-crew of the space station. The Japanese HTV [vid] will arrive and astronauts will use the station's robotic arm to grapple the free-flying spacecraft and berth it to an open port docking with a US-made module.
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