Tag: Japan
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Japan’s HTV supply ship blasts off for space station
The 186-foot-tall (56-meter) H-2B rocket takes off from southern Japan Friday. Credit: MHI A Japanese H-2B rocket launched toward the International Space Station on Friday with a fresh set of high-power batteries, critical parts for the research lab’s carbon dioxide scrubber, and several tons of food, water and provisions. The unpiloted HTV cargo carrier on…
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Flight history of Japan’s HTV resupply spacecraft
Japan’s fourth HTV supply ship in the grasp of the space station’s robotic arm in 2013. Credit: JAXA Japan’s H-2 Transfer Vehicle has accomplished five flights to the International Space Station, delivering tons of food, clothing and crew provisions, instruments to look at ozone chemistry and investigate dark matter, and critical hardware to keep the…
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Japan cargo craft heads for space station
A Japanese H-IIB rocket rises from its launch pad at the Tanegashima Space Center, sending the HTV-6 cargo ship into space. (NASA TV) A critical resupply mission to the International Space Station got off to a good start with the launch of Japan’s HTV-6 robotic cargo spacecraft today. The bus-sized H-II Transfer Vehicle rose into…
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Photos: H-2B rocket emerges for rollout to launch pad at daybreak
A Japanese resupply freighter and its H-2B rocket booster rolled out of the vehicle assembly building at the Tanegashima Space Center just before sunrise Friday for the half-hour trip to the launch pad. Mounted on top of a mobile platform, the 186-foot-tall (56-meter) rocket headed for Launch Pad No. 2 at the Yoshinobu launch complex,…
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Japanese cargo carrier set for launch Friday
The sixth HTV cargo ship from Japan is fully assembled in this image, ready to meet its H-2B launcher. Credit: JAXA Japan’s sixth HTV supply ship is slated to depart a picturesque spaceport on Tanegashima Island on Friday to start a four-day pursuit of the International Space Station with a cache of experiments, supplies and…
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Japanese heavy-hitters invest lightly in PD Aerospace’s space tourism effort
PD AeroSpace has teamed up with H.I.S. and ANA Holdings. (PD AeroSpace Ltd. / Koike Terumasa Design and Aerospace) PD Aerospace, a Japanese company that’s similar to Virgin Galactic in its commercial spaceflight aspirations, has picked up two high-profile investors: ANA Holdings and the H.I.S. travel agency. In a joint statement issued Thursday, the three Japanese…
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Japanese weather observatory successfully boosted into orbit
A nearly four-ton satellite fitted with a modernized camera to collect more timely images of typhoons and severe weather bolted away from a seaside launch pad in southern Japan on Wednesday, riding an H-2A rocket on the way to an orbital perch more than 22,000 miles above Earth. The Himawari 9 satellite, built by Mitsubishi…
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H-2A rocket rolls to launch pad with Japanese weather satellite
The H-2A rocket set to launch with the Himawari 9 weather satellite rolled out to its launch pad at the Tanegashima Space Center on Tuesday. Credit: MHI A sophisticated new Japanese weather satellite will ride an H-2A rocket into orbit Wednesday to start a 15-year mission tracking cyclones and helping meteorologists predict storm movements across…
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Live coverage: H-2A rocket blasts off with latest Japanese weather satellite
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Japanese H-2A rocket with the Himawari 9 weather satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
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Key events during the H-2A rocket launch with Himawari 9
Japan’s Himawari 9 weather satellite will ride into space atop an H-2A rocket from Tanegashima Space Center and reach a preliminary geostationary transfer orbit within 28 minutes of liftoff. The 7,700-pound (3,500-kilogram) satellite will blast off from Launch Pad No. 1 at the Yoshinobu launch complex at Tanegashina Space Center, a picturesque spaceport carved on…