A Japanese cargo freighter docked with the International Space Station on Friday, NASA said.
Nicknamed Kounotori-2 (Japanese for “white stork”), the HTV-4 freighter docked with the station after being pulled in by Canadian-built robotic arm Canadarm, operated by flight engineers Karen Nyberg and Chris Cassidy.
HTV-4 blasted off from southern Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center on August 4 at 4:48 a.m. local time (7:48 p.m. GMT, August 3).
The spacecraft delivered about six tons of scientific gear, crew provisions and equipment, including a small Japanese-made robot, Kirobo, which will float inside the space station and transfer messages from Earth to Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata.
The first HTV freighter was launched to the space station in September 2009. Japan expects to send one of such cargo ship to the station each year until 2015.
