By ROKU GODA/ Staff Writer
September 25, 2019 at 17:15 JST
TANEGASHIMA ISLAND, Kagoshima Prefecture—After a two-week delay, an H-2B rocket was launched here on Sept. 25, carrying an unmanned supply vehicle that will dock with the International Space Station (ISS).
The H-2B Launch Vehicle No. 8 lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center here at 1:05 a.m., and 15 minutes later, the Kounotori (HTV) vehicle with about 5 tons of goods, including food, drinks, clothes, batteries and other items, was released into orbit.
The rocket’s launch was initially scheduled for Sept. 11, but it was called off after a fire broke out around the base of the launch platform.
Static electricity had burned a heat-resistant material, so the material was covered with an aluminum sheet to prevent static electricity for the latest launch.
The HTV is also carrying an ultra-small satellite that will be launched from Japan’s Kibo laboratory on the ISS, cell-culture devices and experimental equipment for optical communications developed by Sony Computer Science Laboratories Inc.
The HTV is scheduled to dock with the ISS on the night of Sept. 28.
So far, a total of 48 H-2B and H-2A rockets have been launched. The last failure was the H-2A Rocket No. 6 in 2003.
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The H-2B Launch Vehicle No. 8 blasts off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on Sept. 25. (Eiji Hori)
