Kounotori reentry

Kounotori reentry

The Japanese HTV-2 cargo vessel Kounotori was successfully unberthed from the ISS at 17:43 CEST on Monday and was released from the Canadian robot arm a couple hours later for its free-flight deorbit manoeuvres (three burns).

HTV2 re-entered the atmosphere at an estimated altitude of 120 km, and Jaxa reckons the vessel’s remains hit the ocean between 17:21 and 17:41 CEST on Tuesday. The HTV2 successfully accomplished the main objective of shipping cargo to the International Space Station, and completed all of its missions over 67 days.

More via JAXA

Next ISS visitor? Soyuz TMA-21/26S set for launch on 4 April and docking on 6 April with astros A. Borisenko, R. Garan and A. Samokutayev on board.