Japanese unmanned spacecraft "Konotori-9" ("Stork-9") on Monday reached the International space station (ISS) and began the process of joining with her. This was announced by the Japanese aerospace exploration Agency (JAXA).
Once the ship approached the station at a distance of 9.2 m – to "grab points" astronaut Chris Cassidy using the remote manipulator Canadarm-2 was carried out the seizure of the ship at 08:13 on East coast time USA (15:13 MSK). As noted in the report from mission control Center in Houston (Texas), broadcast on the website of the National office for Aeronautics and space research (NASA), assistance in the implementation of this operation it provided the Russian cosmonaut Ivan Wagner.
"Chris and Ivan, thanks for the work" – thanked the centre’s staff members of the ISS crew.
After 1 hour and 15 minutes after the seizure of the ship on commands from the mission control Center in Houston will be docked to the docking port on the Unity module, after which the crew will begin unloading.
The ship descended into orbit may 20 carrier rocket H-IIB Tanegashima launch site, delivered to the International space station, about 6.2 tons of different cargoes, reserves of oxygen, water, food, scientific equipment and new lithium-ion battery to replace the old Nickel-hydrogen battery, placed on the hull of the ISS. After unloading the ship will be filled with waste, taken away from ISS, and on command from the mission control center will come down from orbit.
The first launch of the "Kounotori" was implemented in 2009. The device has a length of 10 m and a diameter of 4.4 m in 2011, when he stopped the American Space Shuttle program, "Kounotori" became the main spacecraft capable of carrying large equipment. In 2021, Japan will use an upgraded version of the truck with a larger capacity.
