HTV (Kounotori) Cargo Spacecraft
JAXA - Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
The H-II Transfer Vehicle, named Kounotori (meaning white stork in Japanese), is JAXA uncrewed cargo spacecraft developed to resupply the International Space Station. Kounotori can carry pressurized and unpressurized cargo including food, water, scientific experiments, spare parts, and large external payloads. The spacecraft is launched atop the H-IIB rocket and docks with the ISS using […]
Technical specifications
- Pressurized cargo capacity
- 6
- Unpressurized cargo capacity
- 1.5
- Total cargo capacity
- 6
- Missions flown
- 7
- Launch vehicle
- H-IIB
- Operational period
- 2009-2020
About
The H-II Transfer Vehicle, named Kounotori (meaning white stork in Japanese), is JAXA uncrewed cargo spacecraft developed to resupply the International Space Station. Kounotori can carry pressurized and unpressurized cargo including food, water, scientific experiments, spare parts, and large external payloads. The spacecraft is launched atop the H-IIB rocket and docks with the ISS using the station robotic arm. Seven HTV missions were flown between 2009 and 2020, delivering a total of over 32 tonnes of cargo. Kounotori also provided a unique capability to remove station waste, burning up during atmospheric reentry. A key feature was its ability to berth at the Japanese Experiment Module port and deliver unpressurized cargo to the station exterior, a capability not available from other resupply vehicles at the time. The HTV program paved the way for the next-generation HTV-X spacecraft currently under development.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.
