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Japan launched its first cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station on Thursday. Japan aims for a share of space transport after the retirement of the US space shuttle fleet next year.
The unmanned H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) was launched on a H-IIB rocket by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).The flight was scheduled just after 1700 GMT on Thursday.
The HTV got separated from the H-IIB, as planned, about 15 minutes after the launch.
The launch took place from the Tanegashima Space Center on a southern Japanese island. The HTV carried 4.5 tons of supplies which include food and daily necessities for the six ISS crew and experiment materials.
The astronauts with the help of a Canadian robotic arm at the ISS will try to grab the HTV and dock it as the vehicle approaches the station later this month.
The USD 217 million cylindrical vehicle is 10m long .It will deliver the supplies, load waste materials and return to Earth, burning up as it re-enters the atmosphere.
The development of the vehicle has cost Japan 68 billion yen. The design is supposed to be modified in future to carry humans.
