| Kounotori 5 | |||||||||||||
| Mission Type: | ISS resupply | ||||||||||||
| Operator: | JAXA | ||||||||||||
| Cospar Id: | 2015-038A | ||||||||||||
| Satcat: | 40873 | ||||||||||||
| Mission Duration: | 41 days | ||||||||||||
| Spacecraft Type: | H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) | ||||||||||||
| Manufacturer: | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | ||||||||||||
| Dry Mass: | 10500 kg | ||||||||||||
| Launch Mass: | 16557 kg | ||||||||||||
| Launch Date: | 19 August 2015, 11:50:49 UTC | ||||||||||||
| Launch Rocket: | H-IIB No. 5 | ||||||||||||
| Launch Site: | Tanegashima, Yoshinobu-2 | ||||||||||||
| Launch Contractor: | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | ||||||||||||
| Disposal Type: | Deorbited | ||||||||||||
| Decay Date: | 29 September 2015, 20:33 UTC | ||||||||||||
| Orbit Reference: | Geocentric orbit[1] | ||||||||||||
| Orbit Regime: | Low Earth orbit | ||||||||||||
| Orbit Inclination: | 51.66° | ||||||||||||
| Apsis: | gee | ||||||||||||
| Docking: |
| ||||||||||||
| Cargo Mass: | 6057 kg | ||||||||||||
| Cargo Mass Press: | 4557 kg | ||||||||||||
| Cargo Mass Unpress: | 1500 kg | ||||||||||||
| Programme: | HTV ISS Resupply | ||||||||||||
| Previous Mission: | Kounotori 4 | ||||||||||||
| Next Mission: | Kounotori 6 | ||||||||||||
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.
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 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 of cargo, consisting of in the pressurised compartment and 1000 kg in the unpressurised compartment.[2] Due primarily to the launch failure of SpaceX CRS-7, an additional were added as the late access cargo. Total cargo weight was .[6]
Pressurised cargo includes:[2] [7] potable water, 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 (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 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]