Watch The Return Of Japanese Cargo Vessel On NASA TV

Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) cargo vessel named HTV-9, will be undocking for the final time, from the ISS orbital laboratory on Tuesday, August 18th. Expedition 63 commander, Chris Cassidy of NASA will use the Canadarm2 robotic arm remotely, to release the spacecraft from the station.

NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas will also oversee the unbolting and detachment of the uncrewed vessel from the International Space Station. NASA’s flight controller will initiate the undocking procedure remotely, and allow the space craft to return to earth.

On August 20th, JAXA flight controllers at its HTV control center in Tsukuba, Japan, will take charge of the vessel and move it away from the ISS. The space craft will then fire its deorbit engine in a burn that will bring it back into the earth’s atmosphere and eventually splash down in the Pacific ocean. HTV-9 will be returning (after 3 months) with trash collected from the ISS.

This vessel is part of JAXA’s Kounotori or “white stork” class fleet, of which, 9 have delivered more than 40 tons of supplies to the ISS’s crews. It left earth on May 20th, with 4 tons of supplies and experiments that include new lithium-ion batteries that will be used to upgrade the station’s power systems.

NASA TV and the agency’s website will broadcast the departure on August 18th, at 1:15 p.m. EDT. The event may not be historic in nature, but will mark the last time that the HTV-9 will be on such a mission. It is due to be replaced by the HTV-X by 2022, which will continue the legacy of the H-II, first launched 11 years ago, in service to the ISS.

Astronauts have lived and worked in space for nearly 20 years, testing technologies and performing scientific experiments that will benefit future space travel. So far, 240 people from 19 countries have set foot in the ISS. Its microgravity laboratory has hosted more than 3,000 research and educational investigations, paving the way for space exploration.

NASA has plans that extend far beyond the ISS. It plans to send astronauts back to the moon, and eventually to Mars. These trips are part of the space agency’s Artemis program, an initiative to inspire the next generation of explorers, in taking the next leap forward.