TANEGASHIMA SPACE CENTER, Japan -- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency have successfully launched a H-IIB with the seventh H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-7 or KOUNOTORI 7). Liftoff occurred on September 23, 2018 at 2:52 a.m. JST ( September 22 at 5:52 p.m. UTC; 1:52 p.m. EDT) from the Tanegashima Space Center. The launch vehicle flew as planned, and at approximately 14 minutes and 59 seconds after liftoff, the separation of HTV-7 was confirmed.
The HTV-7 carries food, water, clothes, and various other items for the crew aboard the ISS. The cargo vehicle is also carrying ESA's new Advanced Closed Loop System that will recycle carbon dioxide on the Space Station into oxygen. Currently oxygen on the Space Station is extracted from water that has to be brought from Earth, a costly and limiting drawback. The new system promises to recycle half of the carbon dioxide thereby saving about 400 liters (106 gallons) of water sent to the Space Station each year. The HTV-7 also carries hardware to upgrade the space station's electrical power system and a number of scientific experiments.
The HTV-7 is expected to rendezvous with the ISS on September 27.
The HTV delivers supplies to the International Space Station, along with the U.S. Dragon and Cygnus vehicles and the Russian Progress vehicle. It is likely to remain in service until the expected end of the space station's service life. Current plans call for the ISS to remain operational until 2024.
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