After two days of weather delays, an H-2B (H-IIB) rocket successfully launched the Japanese HTV-5 cargo craft heading for the International Space Station at 1150 GMT on 19 August 2015 from the Tanegashima launch site in Japan.
The 16.5 metric ton spacecraft, also known as Kounotori 5, was carrying 6,057kg of cargo. Also aboard were 14 Flock 2B Earth observation 3U cubesat spacecraft for PlanetLabs (Cosmogia Inc) along with four other cubesats which were carried inside the pressurised hold.
These included AAUSAT-5 1U cubesat for Aalborg University which is to test an improved receiver for detecting Automatic Identification System signals emitted by ships. The GOMX-3 3U cubesat spacecraft built by Gomspace for ESA which will test out an L-band receiver. SERPENS is a Brazilian technology test 3U-cubesat for built by a University consortium led by the University of Brasilia. The final one carried was the S-CUBE 3U cubesat for Chiba Institute of Technology which is to observe meteorite entries into the Earth’s atmosphere.
The HTV-5 craft was captured by the ISS Space Station Remote Manipulator System(SSRMS) robot arm at 1029 GMT on 24 August 2015 ready for its berthing later that day. CORRECTED: This launch has been corrected to include SERPENS.
