Japanese Cargo Ship Launches to Space Station

By Nancy Atkinson - July 21, 2012 at 3:57 PM UTC | Space Exploration

A Japanese resupply ship, the HTV-3 "Kountouri" (White Stork) launched Saturday to the International Space Station, lifting off on an H-IIB into overcast skies from the island of Tanegashima at 02:06 UTC. About 15 minutes after the launch, the cargo ship was released from the rocket and is now in orbit catching up to the space station. The Kountouri contains supplies such as food, clothing and equipment for experiments.

The cargo should reach the ISS on July 27, where Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide will be waiting. Hoshide came aboard last week with Veteran Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, NASA astronaut Suni Williams, arriving on a Soyuz spacecraft.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com