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A Japanese H-IIB rocket carrying the HTV-7 cargo (Kounotori7) for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is at the top of its launch pad at the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. Takeoff is scheduled for 13:52 EDT on September 22, 2018.
Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
A Japanese spacecraft is to be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) today (September 22) and you can watch the action live.
The HTV-7 cargo ship will take off from an H-II rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center at 13:52. EDT (1752 GMT, 2:52 am on September 23 Japanese time), if everything goes as planned. You can watch the live launch on Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV.
HTV-7 contains more than 5 tonnes (4.5 metric tonnes) of scientific equipment, food, fuel and other supplies. If the cargo is launched as planned today, it will reach the ISS early Thursday morning (27 September), NASA officials said. This cargo includes two small cubes for a space elevator experiment and a small return capsule to test the technology to return experiments to Earth. [Japan’s Huge HTV Space Truck Explained (Infographic)]
Today's takeoff was originally scheduled for September 10 but has been postponed several times for several reasons: Typhoon Mangkhut hit a key-tracking station in Guam, bad weather around Tanegashima and the H-II rocket.
"HTV" means "H-II transfer vehicle". The freighter is also called Kounotori, which means "white stork" in Japanese. HTV-7 will, as you may have guessed, the seventh HTV mission to launch into the orbiting laboratory.
The HTV is one of four robotic spacecraft that serves the ISS. The other three are the Russian Progress vehicle, the Cygnus spacecraft built by Northrop Grumman and SpaceX's Dragon capsule.
Dragon is the only one of the four to return to Earth in one piece; the other three are designed to burn in the atmosphere of the planet.
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @ michaeldwall and Google+. follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
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