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Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will launch a cargo of experiments, supplies and small satellite payloads to the International Space Station today at 12:05 EDT (01:05 JST / 09:05 AM CT). The payload will be delivered via a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) H-IIB rocket, packed in an unmanned cargo space vehicle H-II Transport Vehicle (HTV), which will then have an appointment with the ISS in order to unload scientific experiments, use to replace the old nickel-hydrogen devices used in orbital laboratories.
This mission is codenamed "HTV-8", the eighth mission executed by MHI using the HTV cargo ship. It will be launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan, located on a small island south of the Kyushu region. This is the second launch attempt, after cleaning the initial attempt before takeoff, due to a small fire on the launch pad, on which MHI then investigated and corrected.
The H-IIB rocket is a fully extensible launcher, with a central core fueled with liquid oxygen and four solid fuel boosters that surround the base to provide greater lift, giving the rocket a total lifting capacity of up to 18,000 lbs. geostationary transfer. in orbit, or up to 36,400 lb in low Earth orbit.
This eighth flight for the H-IIB will also be its penultimate. The company is planning an additional flight for this configuration before fully focusing on its future H3 mid-launch launcher, which will increase cargo capacity up to 14,000 lbs in a geostationary transfer orbit, and which will reduce the costs of more than 50% launch between $ 50 and $ 65 million, to make pricing more competitive with new commercial launchers such as SpaceX . H3 is aiming for next year for its first test flights. Commercial activities will begin in 2021.
NASA will begin broadcasting the live stream of the above launch at approximately 11:30 am EDT (8:30 pm PDT).
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