NASA to air departure of Japanese Cargo Ship from International Space Station on August 18

Washington: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is all set to air the departure of Japanese Cargo Ship from International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday (August 18, 2020).

The live coverage of the departure will begin at 1:15 PM EDT (10:45 PM IST ) on NASA's Television and official website.

"Eleven years after the launch of the first H-II Transfer cargo vehicle (HTV) to the International Space Station, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA’s) HTV-9 will depart the orbital laboratory Tuesday with live coverage beginning at 1:15 PM EDT on NASA Television and the agency’s website," read NASA'S official statement.

To mark the end of Cargo Ship's three-month stay at the ISS, the Canadarm2 robotic arm will be used by Expedition 63 Commander Chris Cassidy of NASA to release the spacecraft from the station at 1:35 PM. 

To prepare for release, flight controllers operating from NASA’s Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston will send commands to unbolt and detach the uncrewed cargo craft from the station’s Harmony module and remotely operate Canadarm2 to move it into place for departure.

Notably, this will be the final station departure of JAXA’s Kounotori, or “white stork,” model cargo craft, nine of which have delivered more than 40 tons of supplies to space station crews.  

As per NASA, the JAXA is developing a new fleet of HTV cargo craft, the HTV-X, which is targeted for its first launch in 2022.

Earlier on May 20, the spacecraft which was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan delivered about four tons of supplies and experiments to the orbital complex, including new lithium-ion batteries that were used to upgrade the station’s power systems. 

The new-technology batteries were installed through a series of spacewalks along the far port truss “backbone” of the station.

HTV-9 will be commanded by JAXA flight controllers at its HTV control center in Tsukuba, Japan, to move away from the station and, on August 20, to fire its deorbit engine in a burn that will send it back into Earth’s atmosphere. 

"Loaded with trash from the space station, the spacecraft will burn up harmlessly over the Pacific Ocean," said NASA.

At ISS, several astronauts have continuously lived and work for nearly 20 years now, testing technologies, performing science and developing the skills needed to explore farther from Earth. 

240 people from 19 countries have visited the unique microgravity laboratory that has hosted more than 3,000 research and educational investigations from researchers in 108 countries and areas.