Japanese HTV-3 Berthed to International Space Station

By Nancy Atkinson - July 27, 2012 at 8:07 PM UTC | Space Exploration

The HTV-3 Japanese cargo spacecraft was successfully captured with the International Space Station's Canadarm 2 robotic arm, and then installed to a docking port. JAXA astronaut Aki Hoshide berthed the HTV supply ship, called Kounotori3, or "white stork," at 14:19 GMT (10:19 EDT) on July 27, 2012 to the Earth-facing side of the Harmony node on the ISS.

Above is a timelapse of the capture and berthing provided by

SpaceVids

.

Earlier, working from the robotic workstation inside the station's cupola, NASA Flight Engineer Joe Acaba, with the assistance of Hoshide, captured the 16.5-ton cargo ship with the station's Canadian Space Agency-provided robotic arm, and as the spacecraft flew within about 12 meters (40 feet) of the ISS. The unmanned cargo ship is 10 meters (33 feet) long and 4 meters (13 feet) in diameter and is capable of delivering both internal and external supplies and hardware to the station.

The name Kounotori was chosen because the ship's arrival represents an important delivery. The space station crew later opened the hatches and began the process of removing about 3,175 kg (7,000 pounds) of supplies from inside the Kounotori3's Pressurized Logistics Carrier. That cargo includes food and clothing for the astronauts,

an aquatic habitat experiment

, a remote-controlled Earth-observation camera for environmental studies, a catalytic reactor for the station's water regeneration system and a Japanese cooling water recirculation pump.

Kounotori3's Unpressurized Logistics Carrier is carrying more than 1,000 pounds of cargo to be attached to an experiment platform at the end of the Kibo module on August 6.

Kounotori3 launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan on July 21. It will stay attached to the ISS until September 6 when, like its predecessors, it will be detached from the Harmony node by Canadarm2 and released for a fiery re-entry over the Pacific Ocean. The outer hull of the spacecraft is fitted with monitors to provide data about its re-entry.

Nancy Atkinson

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