TOKYO– Japan’s space agency successfully launched its most powerful flagship H3 rocket on Sunday, carrying a new unmanned cargo craft on its first mission to deliver supplies to the International Space Station.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the HTV-X1 spacecraft successfully took off atop the H3 No. 7 rocket from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center in the south of the country, and confirmed that it entered the targeted orbit 14 minutes after liftoff.
The spacecraft was separated and placed in a planned orbit, JAXA said. If all goes well, it should arrive at the ISS in a few days to deliver supplies. Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, currently on the ISS, is expected to catch the craft with a robotic arm early Thursday.
The HTV-X is the successor to JAXA’s H-II unmanned transfer vehicle, known as Kounotori, or stork in Japanese, which flew nine missions to the ISS between 2009 and 2020.
The new cargo ship can carry a larger payload and provide power during flight, enabling the transport of laboratory samples requiring low-temperature storage.
The HTV-X is designed to be connected to the ISS for up to six months to deliver supplies and collect waste from the ISS, then carry out technical missions while completing an orbital flight after leaving the station, this time for three months.
Sunday’s launch also marks a successful debut for the most powerful version of the H3 rocket, with four rocket boosters and a larger fairing, as well as an upper compartment for payloads, officials said.
JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa called Sunday’s launch a “major step forward” demonstrating Japan’s ability to deliver supplies to space, which serves as a “basis for autonomous space activity.”
Iwao Igarashi, head of the space affairs department at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, responsible for developing the H3 with JAXA and operating the rocket launches, said Japan’s track record of on-time launch and precision delivery of payloads and the newly modified rocket prove they can meet a range of customer needs. He said his company plans to expand its launch facilities.
The H3 rocket replaces Japan’s long-beloved H-2A rocket, which made its final flight in June, as a new flagship model designed to be more cost competitive in the global space market. The H3 has so far made six consecutive successful flights after a first failed attempt in 2023, when the rocket had to be destroyed along with its payload.
Japan views a stable and commercially competitive space transportation capability as key to its space program and national security.
