Photo: Farewell to Kounotori2 H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV2)

A fish-eye lens attached to an electronic still camera was used to capture this image of the unpiloted Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kounotori2 H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV2), filled with trash and unneeded items, as it departs from the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Cady Coleman and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli, both Expedition 27 flight engineers, used the station’s robot arm to grapple the HTV2 and unberth it from the Earth-facing port of the Harmony node. The cargo craft was released at 11:46 a.m. (EDT) on March 28, 2011. ISS027-E-008682 (28 March 2011) — high res (1.2 M) low res (84 K)