An unpiloted Japanese cargo ship left the International Space Station Friday (Nov. 1), wrapping up a month-long delivery mission as a new U.S. supply ship prepares for a weekend launch.
Astronauts on the space station used a robotic arm to release the cargo ship, called HTV-8, from the station at 1:21 p.m. EDT (1713 GMT) as the two spacecraft sailed 261 miles (420 kilometers) above the Pacific Ocean, just west of the California coast.
"Gone but not forgotten," station astronaut Christina Koch of NASA, who controlled the arm during HTV-8's release, wrote on Twitter later. "Watching the HTV cargo ship depart @Space_Station today and remembering the complex dance of the robotic arm that marked the beginning of its stay."
Video: Watch HTV-8 Leave the Space Station!
Photos: Japan's Robotic Space Cargo Ship Fleet
HTV-8's departure sets the stage for the launch of a U.S. cargo ship, the Cygnus NG-12 spacecraft built by Northrop Grumman, from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. That mission is scheduled to launch Saturday (Nov. 2) at 9:59 a.m. EDT (1359 GMT) and arrive at the station two days later to deliver another 4 tons of supplies.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched HTV-8 to the space station Sept. 24 using an H-IIB rocket that lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. The spacecraft arrived at the station four days later, delivering more than 4 tons of supplies - including vital new batteries for the outpost's solar arrays.
Video: How Japan's HTV Cargo Ships Work
Related: Japan's HTV Space Truck Explained (Infographic)
Gone but not forgotten! Watching the HTV cargo ship depart @Space_Station today and remembering the complex dance of the robotic arm that marked the beginning of its stay. The batteries being removed were later installed by us on spacewalks—can’t beat that for teamwork! pic.twitter.com/UsJHFAWJTENovember 1, 2019
HTV-8 spent 34 days attached to an Earth-facing port on the station's U.S. Harmony module. On Saturday night (Nov. 2), the spacecraft will fire its thrusters to intentionally fall out of orbit. It is42042 expected to burn up over the Pacific Ocean.
JAXA's HTV spacecraft (the name is short for H-II Transfer Vehicles) are also known as Kounotory (Japanese for "white stork"). They are part of an international fleet of robotic cargo ships that includes Russia's Progress vehicles, SpaceX's Dragon, Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft and the European Space Agency's Autonomous Transfer Vehicles.
- Space Station's Robotic Cargo Ship Fleet (A Photo Guide)
- Photos: Japan Launches HTV-4 Cargo Ship to Space Station
- JAXA: Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us @Spacedotcom and Facebook.
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