Japan’s first unmanned cargo ship, the H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV), successfully re-entered the atmosphere Nov. 2 and burned up over the Pacific Ocean as planned, capping a 52-day mission that included the delivery of more than 3,000 kilograms of supplies to the international space station.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched HTV-1 Sept. 11 atop a brand new Japanese H-2B rocket. Both the spacecraft functioned perfectly during the spaceflight debut.
