Kounotori 5, also known as HTV-5, was the fifth flight of the H-II Transfer Vehicle, an uncrewed cargo spacecraft launched to resupply the International Space Station. It was launched on 19 August 2015.
![]() A view of the docked Kounotori 5 spacecraft from the Cupola, with Aurora Australis in the background. | |
Mission type | ISS resupply |
---|---|
Operator | JAXA |
COSPAR ID | 2015-038A ![]() |
SATCAT no. | 40873 |
Mission duration | 41 days |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) |
Manufacturer | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries |
Launch mass | 16557 kg[citation needed] |
Dry mass | 10500 kg |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 19 August 2015, 11:50:49 UTC |
Rocket | H-IIB No. 5 |
Launch site | Tanegashima, Yoshinobu-2 |
Contractor | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries |
End of mission | |
Disposal | Deorbited |
Decay date | 29 September 2015, 20:33 UTC |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit[1] |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Inclination | 51.66° |
Berthing at ISS | |
Berthing port | Harmony |
RMS capture | 24 August 2015, 10:28 UTC |
Berthing date | 24 August 2015, 17:28 UTC |
Unberthing date | 28 September 2015, 11:12 UTC |
RMS release | 28 September 2015, 16:53 UTC |
Time berthed | 34 days, 23 hours, 25 minutes |
Cargo | |
Mass | 6057 kg |
Pressurised | 4557 kg[citation needed] |
Unpressurised | 1500 kg[citation needed] |
HTV ISS Resupply |
Major changes of Kounotori 5 from previous Kounotori are:[2]
When approaching the ISS, previous missions were held at the Approach Initiation (AI) point at 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) behind the ISS for system checkout, but Kounotori 5 was changed to continue the approach without holding, to simplify the operation.[2]
Kounotori 5 was originally planned to carry about 5.5 tonnes (5.4 long tons; 6.1 short tons) of cargo, consisting of 4,500 kilograms (9,900 lb) in the pressurised compartment and 1000 kg in the unpressurised compartment.[2] Due primarily to the launch failure of SpaceX CRS-7, an additional 200 kilograms (440 lb) were added as the late access cargo. Total cargo weight was 6,057 kilograms (13,353 lb).[6]
Pressurised cargo includes:[2][7] potable water (600 litres (130 imp gal; 160 US gal)), food, crew commodities, system components, and science experiment equipments. System components includes: UPA Fluids Control and Pump Assembly (FCPA), WPA Multifiltration Beds (WFB), a galley rack to be placed in Unity, and a Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue (SAFER) pack. Science experiment equipments include Mouse Habitat Unit (MHU), Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF), Multi-purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR-2), Exposed Experiment Handrail Attachment Mechanism (ExHAM-2), NanoRacks External Platform (NREP), and CubeSats (SERPENS [pt], S-CUBE, fourteen Flock-2b,[8] AAUSAT5, and GOMX-3).
Unpressurised cargo consists of the Calorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET).[2] Plans for a NASA unpressurised module were canceled.[9]
Upon departure from ISS, the unpressurised cargo bay will carry the Multi-mission Consolidated Equipment (MCE) package, the Superconducting Submillimeter-wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES), and a NASA experiment module, Space Test Program Houston 4 (STP-H4), until its destructive reentry in the Atmosphere of Earth.[2]
Kounotori 5 was originally planned for launch in 2014 but was later postponed due to delays in the construction and qualification testing[citation needed] of the payload to fly on the capsule.[10]
In June 2015, it was scheduled to be launched at around 13:01 UTC on 16 August 2015.[11] Due to the bad weather forecast, on 14 August 2015 the launch was postponed to 17 August 2015,[12] and then on 16 August it was postponed again to 19 August 2015.[13]
Kounotori 5 was successfully launched with a H-IIB No. 5 (H-IIB F5) Launch vehicle flying from pad 2 of the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at Tanegashima Space Center at 11:50:49 UTC on 19 August 2015.[14] Communication and three-axis attitude controls were established shortly after the launch.[15] Phase Manoeuvre was performed by 19:25 UTC on 20 August 2015,[16] and the first Height Adjustment Manoeuvre by 17:55 UTC on 22 August 2015.[17] The second and third Height Adjustment Manoeuvre were performed by 03:07 and 06:12 UTC on 24 August 2015, respectively.[18][19]
The ISS's robotic arm SSRMS grappled Kounotori 5 at 10:29 UTC on 24 August 2015, and fastened it to the ISS's Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) at 14:58 UTC on 24 August 2015. All berthing operations were completed at 17:28 UTC on 24 August 2015.[20]
From 02:27 UTC on 25 August 2015, the Exposed Pallet (EP), which is carrying CALET, was extracted from Kounotori 5's Unpressurised Logistics Carrier (ULC) by the ground-controlled SSRMS, and handed off to the Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS), which is also remote-controlled from ground. The JEMRMS then attached the palette to the JEM Exposed Facility (EF).[21][22] Later, at 14:29 UTC on the same day, CALET was removed from the pallet and installed to the Exposed Facility by the JEMRMS.[23]
The ISS crew opened the hatch of the Kounotori's Common Berthing Mechanism and entered to Pressurized Logistics Carrier at 10:24 UTC on 25 August 2015,[21] and began transferring the cargo.
Kounotori 5 was unberthed from the CBM at 11:12 UTC, 28 September 2015 by SSRMS robotic arm and moved to the release position. The first attempt of the release at 15:20 UTC was aborted due to an anomaly of the SSRMS.[24] After one ISS orbit, Kounotori 5 was released from the SSRMS at 16:53 UTC, 28 September 2015, Expedition 45 Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui of JAXA, backed up by NASA Flight Engineer Kjell N. Lindgren, commanded the SSRMS.
After the orbit control manoeuvre, Kounotori 5 reentered Earth's atmosphere over the southern Pacific Ocean around 20:33 UTC, on 29 September 2015.[25]
Kounotori H-II Transfer Vehicle spaceflights | ||
---|---|---|
Past missions | ![]() | |
Future missions |
| |
See also |
|
Uncrewed spaceflights to the International Space Station | ||
---|---|---|
| ||
2000–2004 | ||
2005–2009 | ||
2010–2014 | ||
2015–2019 | ||
2020–2024 | ||
Future |
| |
Spacecraft |
| |
|
← 2014 · Orbital launches in 2015 · 2016 → | |
---|---|
January | |
February | |
March | ABS-3A · Eutelsat 115 West B – WADIS-2 – MMS – Ekspress AM7 – USA-260 / GPS IIF-9 – KOMPSat-3A – IGS-Optical 5 – Soyuz TMA-16M – Galileo FOC-3, FOC-4 – IRNSS-1D – BeiDou I1-S – Gonets-M 11, 12, 13 · Kosmos 2504 |
April | SpaceX CRS-6 (Arkyd-3R · AggieSat 4 · Bevo 2 · Flock-1e × 14) – Thor 7 · SICRAL-2 – TürkmenÄlem 52°E / MonacoSAT – Progress M-27M |
May | Mexsat-1 – USA-261 / X-37 OTV-4 · LightSail-1 · USS Langley · BRICSat-P · ParkinsonSat · GEARRS-2 · AeroCube 8A, 8B · OptiCube 1, 2, 3 – DirecTV-15 · SKY México-1 |
June | Kosmos 2505 / Kobalt-M – Sentinel-2A – Kosmos 2506 / Persona No.3 – Gaofen 8 – SpaceX CRS-7 (Flock-1f × 8) |
July | Progress M-28M – UK-DMC 3 × 3 · CBNT-1 · DeOrbitSail – USA-262 / GPS IIF-10 – Star One C4 · MSG-4 – Soyuz TMA-17M – USA-263 / WGS-7 – BeiDou M1-S, M2-S |
August | HTV-5 / Kounotori 5 (SERPENS · S-CUBE · Flock-2b × 14 · AAUSAT 5 · GOMX 3) – Eutelsat 8 West B · Intelsat 34 – Yaogan 27 – GSAT-6 / INSAT-4E – Inmarsat 5-F3 |
September | Soyuz TMA-18M – MUOS-4 – Galileo FOC-5, FOC-6 – TJSSW-1 – Gaofen 9 – Ekspress AM8 – XY-2 · Tiantuo-3 · ZDPS 2A, 2B · Xiwang-2 × 6 · DCBB · LilacSat-2 · NUDT-Phone-Sat · Xingchen × 4 · NS-2 · Zijing × 2 – Kosmos 2507, 2508, 2509 / Strela-3M × 3 – Pujian-1 · Tianwang 1A, 1B, 1C – Astrosat · LAPAN-A2 · ExactView 9 · Lemur-2 × 4 – BeiDou I2-S – NBN-Co 1A · ARSAT-2 |
October | Progress M-29M – Mexsat-2 – Jilin-1 · Lingqiao A · Lingqiao B · LQSAT – USA-264 / NOSS Intruder × 2 / NROL-55 · AeroCube-5c, 7 · SNaP-3 × 3 · PropCube × 2 · SINOD-D × 2 · ARC-1 · BisonSat · AMSAT Fox-1 · LMRST-Sat – APStar-9 – Türksat 4B – Tianhui 1C – USA-265 / GPS IIF-11 |
November | Chinasat 2C – HiakaSat · EDSN × 8 · PrintSat · Argus · STACEM · Supernova-Beta – Yaogan 28 – Arabsat 6B · GSAT-15 – Kosmos 2510 / EKS-1 / Tundra-11L – LaoSat-1 – Telstar 12V – Yaogan 29 |
December | LISA Pathfinder – Kosmos 2511 / Kanopus-ST · Kosmos 2512 / KYuA-1 – Cygnus CRS OA-4 (Flock-2e × 12 · CADRE · MinXSS 1 · Nodes × 2 · STMSat 1 · SIMPL) – ChinaSat 1C – Elektro-L No.2 – Kosmos 2513 / Garpun-12L – Soyuz TMA-19M – TeLEOS-1 · VELOX-C1 · Kent Ridge 1 · VELOX 2 · Galassia · Athenoxat-1 – DAMPE – Galileo FOC-8, FOC-9 – Progress MS-01 – Orbcomm-2 × 11 – Ekspress-AMU1 – Gaofen 4 |
Launches are separated by dashes ( – ), payloads by dots ( · ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Cubesats are smaller. Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in brackets). |