Unpiloted Japanese Kounotori HTV-2 Transfer Vehicle

ISS026-E-021017 (27 Jan. 2011) --- The unpiloted Japanese Kounotori2 H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV2) approaches the International Space Station, delivering more than four tons of food and supplies to the space station and its crew members. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched HTV2 aboard an H-IIB rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan at 12:37 a.m. (EST) (2:27 p.m. Japan time) on Jan. 22, 2011. NASA astronaut Catherine (Cady) Coleman and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli, both Expedition 26 flight engineers, used the station’s robotic Canadarm2 to attach the HTV2 to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony node. The attachment was completed at 9:51 a.m. (EST) on Jan. 27, 2011.