1st Unit of JAXA's New ISS Resupply Craft Completes Missions

Tokyo, May 27 (Jiji Press)--The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said Wednesday it has completed operations of the first unit of its HTV-X series International Space Station resupply spacecraft, which re-entered the atmosphere late Tuesday Japan time.

The vehicle, called HTV-X1, is believed to have burned up over the South Pacific.

After being launched by an H3 rocket in October last year, the HTV-X1 delivered supplies to the ISS and then carried out missions in orbit around the Earth in and after March this year, including the release of a microsatellite, deployment tests for lightweight panels equipped with antennas and trials of next-generation space solar cells.

"All planned missions succeeded and yielded valuable technological findings," JAXA project manager Norimasa Ito told an online briefing.

The HTV-X, an upgraded version of JAXA's nine-flight HTV series, dubbed Kounotori, is capable of carrying out post-ISS missions, such as experiments and observations, at various altitudes for a long period.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]