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The last of Japan’s first HTV supply ships left the International Space Station on Tuesday with several tons of trash, old batteries and unnecessary equipment, heading for a destructive reentry before the launch of an improved freighter.
The HTV freighter was freed from the Canadian-built space station robotic arm at 1:36 p.m. EDT (5:36 p.m. GMT) to conclude an 85-day stay at the orbiting research outpost.
Astronauts closed the hatches between the HTV and the station’s Harmony module on Monday in preparation for the spacecraft’s departure. Ground crews then planned to use the robotic arm to detach the HTV from its space station docking port and maneuver it to a location about 30 feet, or 9 meters, below the complex.
Space Station Commander Chris Cassidy sent the robotic arm command to release the HTV on Tuesday. Russian cosmonaut Ivan Vagner assisted Cassidy with a robotics workstation in the space station’s glass dome module.
The HTV fired thrusters to leave the vicinity of the space station, preparing for a burn sequence to re-enter the atmosphere around 3:07 a.m. EDT (0707 GMT) Thursday. Serving as a waste disposal vehicle, the spacecraft will burn on targeted reentry to occur over the South Pacific Ocean.
Japan’s ninth HTV refueling carrier arrived at the station on May 25, five days after launching from the Tanegashima Space Center aboard a Japanese H-2B rocket. The HTV 9 mission delivered more than 13,600 pounds, or 6.2 metric tons, of cargo, supplies and experiments in its pressurized module and on its external cargo bay, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA.
The barrel-shaped H-2 transfer vehicle is nicknamed Kounotori, which means “white stork” in Japanese, and is approximately 10 meters long and 4.4 meters wide.
The HTV 9 mission transported six new lithium-ion batteries to the station inside its unpressurized cargo bay. NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnken installed the upgraded batteries on the space station’s solar beam, completing a multi-year upgrade to the research lab’s electrical system.
A cargo pallet loaded with eight obsolete nickel-hydrogen batteries was robotically installed in the HTV 9 spacecraft for disposal. The astronauts also placed a no longer needed replenishment rack and a European storage rack in the HTV before it left the space station on Tuesday.
The last set of decommissioned nickel-hydrogen batteries will be dropped from the space station by its robotic arm later this year to fall naturally out of orbit due to aerodynamic drag.
“It was a true honor for the members of Expedition 63 … to welcome HTV, to conduct operations there, and now to be part of its departure on the ninth-class spacecraft,” Cassidy said after the start of the HTV 9 mission. “Congratulations to our colleagues and friends at JAXA.”
The HTV 9 mission marks the final flight of the current design of Japan’s HTV spacecraft, which first reached the space station in 2009. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is developing an improved cargo vehicle called the HTV- X, which should fly to the space station. for the first time in 2022.
“The HTV is the latest Japanese cargo vehicle in the series, but this latest departure is the start of a new chapter for (JAXA), which is developing a next-generation HTV-X cargo vehicle,” said Japanese astronaut Norishige. Kanai, who served as a spacecraft communicator at NASA’s mission control center in Houston for Tuesday operations. “With the improved capability of the new vehicle, we will be expanding our activity in space, not only on the ISS, but beyond low earth orbit. We can’t wait to see HTV-X in the near future. Until then, goodbye HTV. Arigato (and) sayonara, Kounotori. “
Unlike the HTV, which is gripped by the robotic arm and docked to the space station, Japan’s HTV-X is designed to connect directly to the orbiting outpost, using the same docking ports as the capsules. Crew Dragon from SpaceX and Starliner from Boeing.
JAXA is providing space station replenishment services to help pay for Japan’s share of the research lab’s running costs. In addition to the space station’s missions in low earth orbit, Japanese officials say the HTV-X spacecraft could carry logistics to the future Gateway mini-space station near the moon.
The Japanese H-2B launcher was also retired with the latest HTV flight. The HTV-X missions will be launched on the Japanese next-generation H3 rocket.
The HTV-X could also supply outposts further away than the International Space Station, such as the Gateway mini-space station planned to orbit the moon.
Other equipment delivered to the station in May by the Japanese mission HTV 9 included a module to support a Japanese combustion experiment, a camera from a Spanish company that will be tested to assess its usefulness on small satellites and CubeSats, new science racks for space. NASA station and the European Space Agency, plus a water tank and fresh food for the research lab crew.
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