Japan cargo mission to ISS launched from Tanegashima space center
TANEGASHIMA. KAZINFORM - Japan launched a rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on Wednesday, the state-run Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency or JAXA said.
The Konotori 5 cargo transporter is scheduled to reach the space station at around 8 p.m. Monday (Japan time), JAXA said. The launch of the Konotori 5 aboard the H-2B rocket was twice postponed due to adverse weather. Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, 45, who is on the ISS, is waiting for the arrival of the No. 5 cargo transporter. The Japanese word "konotori" means a stork. The unmanned transporter carries 5.5 tons of supplies and experimental equipment to the ISS, following the recent failures to send U.S. Dragon and Russian Progress cargo spacecraft to the ISS. A large number of people waited for the rocket launch on Tanegashima, an island located 115 kilometers south of Japan's southwestern main island of Kyushu. Astronaut Yui is scheduled to use a robotic arm to dock the transporter with the ISS, JAXA said. Source: Kyodo