HTV-5 Launch to ISS Now Scheduled for Wednesday

HTV-5 Payload Processing
Credit: JAXA

The next supply mission to the International Space Station will have to wait a few more days. Over the weekend, Mitsubishi Industries, Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) elected to delay Sunday’s planned launch of the H-II Transfer Vehicle “KOUNOTORI5” or  (HTV5), due to concerns over weather at the Tanegashima Space Center.

The new launch date is Wednesday, August 19th, with liftoff of the H-IIB rocket scheduled for 8:50:49 PM Japan Standard Time / 7:50 AM EDT in the US. NASA TV coverage will begin at 7:00 AM.

Wednesday’s mission will mark the 5th flight of Japan’s Kounotori, or “white stork” cargo vessel in what was originally projected to be a seven flight series. Following the retirement of the European ATV after five flights, the HTV is now the space station’s largest and most capable cargo freighter, carrying 4.5 tons of pressurized cargo along with an additional ton of unpressurized payload. Much like the ATV, Russian Progress, and Orbital ATK’s Cygnus, it too is fully expendable, leaving the SpaceX Dragon as the only ISS Visiting Vehicle capable of bringing cargo intact back down to Earth.