Japan’s first H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV-1) arrived at the international space station Sept. 17 carrying 5 tons of cargo on its maiden flight to the orbital outpost. HTV-1 launched atop an H-2B rocket Sept.10 and spent several days demonstrating collision avoidance maneuvers and undergoing tests before closing within 10 meters of the station where it was captured by the Canadarm2 robotic arm.
HTV-1 is expected to depart the station around Nov. 1 and burn up as it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.
