H-IIB 304 | Kounotori 3 (HTV-3)
Launch Successful
L - -- : -- : -- : --
Instantaneous launch window.
Launch Window
July 21, 2012, 2:06 a.m. - July 21, 2012, 2:06 a.m.
Instantaneous launch window.
July 21, 2012, 2:06 a.m. - July 21, 2012, 2:06 a.m.
Uncrewed cargo resupply mission to International Space Station.
H-IIB (H2B) is an expendable launch system used to launch H-II Transfer Vehicles (HTV, or Kounotori) towards the International Space Station. H-IIB rockets are liquid-fuelled with solid-fuel strap-on boosters and are launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. Mitsubishi and JAXA have been primarily responsible for design, manufacture, and operation of H-IIB.
Kounotori 3, also known as HTV-3, is the third Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle. It was launched on 21 July 2012 to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the H-IIB Launch Vehicle No. 3 (H-IIB F3) manufactured by MHI and JAXA. Kounotori 3 arrived at the ISS on 27 July 2012, and Expedition 32 Flight Engineer and JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide used the International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to install Kounotori 3, to its docking port on the Earth-facing side of the Harmony module at 14:34 GMT.
H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) DetailsMitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group. MHI's products include aerospace components, air conditioners, aircraft, automotive components, forklift trucks, hydraulic equipment, machine tools, missiles, power generation equipment, printing machines, ships and space launch vehicles. Through its defense-related activities, it is the world's 23rd-largest defense contractor measured by 2011 defense revenues and the largest based in Japan.
INFO WIKIUnknown satellite(s) for the Russian military.
A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
JAXA-manifested rideshare of eight separate spacecraft that includes educational small sats, an ocean monitoring satellite, a demonstration satellite…
Sub-orbital launch under Rocket Lab’s Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) program, details TBD.
Tenth of ten GPS III missions.
A batch of 25 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird Block 1 satellites, requi…
Daqi-2 (DQ-2), also known as the Atmospheric Environment Monitoring Satellite/AEMS, is the second of follow-on series of Chinese satellites to the GF…
Unknown satellite(s) for the Russian military.
A batch of 25 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.