Tokyo: Japan’s space agency on Sunday successfully launched its new flagship H3 rocket, carrying an unmanned cargo spacecraft on its maiden mission to deliver supplies to the International Space Station (ISS).
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed that the HTV-X1 spacecraft lifted off atop the No. 7 H3 rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. The spacecraft successfully separated from the rocket and was placed into its planned orbit. If all goes as planned, it is expected to arrive at the ISS in a few days. Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, currently aboard the station, is scheduled to capture the craft with a robotic arm in the early hours of Thursday.
The HTV-X1 is the successor to JAXA’s unmanned H-II Transfer Vehicle, known as Kounotori—or “stork” in Japanese—which completed nine missions to the ISS between 2009 and 2020. The new freighter can carry a larger payload and supply power during flight, enabling the transport of cells and other laboratory samples that require low-temperature storage.
Designed to remain docked to the ISS for up to six months, the HTV-X1 can deliver supplies, retrieve waste, and conduct technical missions while continuing orbital flights after leaving the station, this time for a planned three-month mission.
The H3 rocket replaces Japan’s long-serving H-2A rocket, which completed its final flight in June. The new model is Japan’s flagship launcher, designed to be more cost-competitive in the global space market. The H3 has now completed six consecutive successful launches after a failed debut in 2023, when the rocket had to be destroyed along with its payload.
Japan views a stable and commercially competitive space transport capability as a cornerstone of its space program and national security.
With PTI inputs