Science and Exploration

Saying Goodbye to HTV

By Keith Cowing
May 24, 2013
Filed under

Backdropped by Earth’s horizon and the blackness of space, the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 grapples the unpiloted Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) in preparation for its release from the station.

Backdropped by Earth’s horizon and the blackness of space, the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 grapples the unpiloted Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) in preparation for its release from the station. European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne, Expedition 21 commander; NASA astronaut Nicole Stott and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk, both flight engineers, used the station’s robotic arm to grab the HTV cargo craft, filled with trash and unneeded items, and unberth it from the Harmony node’s nadir port. The HTV was successfully unberthed at 10:18 a.m. (CDT) on Oct. 30, 2009, and released from the station’s Canadarm2 at 12:32 p.m. high res (1.2 M) low res (88 K)

European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne, Expedition 21 commander, works in the vestibule between the International Space Station’s Harmony node and the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) in preparation for the release of the HTV scheduled for Oct. 30, 2009. high res (0.5 M) low res (81 K)

Backdropped by Earth’s horizon and the blackness of space, the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 unberths the unpiloted Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) in preparation for its release from the station. European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne, Expedition 21 commander; NASA astronaut Nicole Stott and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk, both flight engineers, used the station’s robotic arm to grab the HTV cargo craft, filled with trash and unneeded items, and unberth it from the Harmony node’s nadir port. The HTV was successfully unberthed at 10:18 a.m. (CDT) on Oct. 30, 2009, and released from the station’s Canadarm2 at 12:32 p.m.

high res (1.1 M) low res (78 K)

high res (1.1 M) low res (79 K)

high res (1.4 M) low res (99 K)

SpaceRef co-founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.