Weather Problems Delay Japan Launch of Supply Mission to ISS

Bad weather has delayed the launch of JAXA’s transport vehicle to the International Space Station.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Bad weather has delayed the launch of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)’s transport vehicle to the International Space Station (ISS) from Sunday to Monday, the US National Astronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said in a press release.

"JAXA is delaying the launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan due to an unfavorable weather forecast for the original launch date of Sunday," the release read on Friday.

The remote-controlled and unmanned cargo capsule, called Kounotori — Japanese for "white stork" — will carry more than 4.5 tons of supplies, including water, spare parts and experiment hardware for the six-person ISS crew and will take four days to rendezvous with the station in low earth orbit, the release said.

"Rendezvous and grapple of the HTV-5 [transport vehicle] now is scheduled for approximately 7:55 a.m. on August 21," the release said.

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren began their tour of operations on the ISS on July 23 having flown into space on a Russian Soyuz FG carrier rocket launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.