Japan successfully launches new cargo spacecraft to deliver supplies to International Space Station

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TOKYO (AP) — Japan's space agency on Sunday successfully launched its new flagship H3 rocket carrying an unmanned cargo spacecraft for its first mission to deliver supplies to the International Space Station.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the HTV-X1 spacecraft successfully lifted off atop the No. 7 H3 rocket from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan.

The spacecraft was separated and placed into a planned orbit, JAXA said. If everything goes smoothly, it is expected to arrive at the ISS in a few days to deliver supplies. Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, currently at the ISS, is set to catch the craft with a robot arm in the early hours of Thursday.

The HTV-X is the successor to JAXA’s unmanned H-II Transfer Vehicle known as Kounotori, or stork in Japanese, which flew nine missions to the ISS between 2009 and 2020.

The new freighter can carry a bigger payload and supply power during flight, enabling transport of cells and other lab samples that requires storage in low temperature.

The HTV-X is designed to be connected to the ISS for up to six months to deliver supplies and retrieve waste from the ISS, then conduct technical missions while making an orbital flight after leaving the station, this time for three months.

H3 rocket replaces Japan's long beloved mainstay 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.

Japan sees a stable, commercially competitive space transport capability as key to its space program and national security.

The H3 has so far made six consecutive successful flights after a failed debut attempt in 2023, when the rocket had to be destroyed with its payload.