Second H11BTV, HTV -2 for short safely on its way

clln

to the iss,it is one of the two vehicles that will carry heavy payloads to the station after shuttle retirement, the other is the European Automatic Transfer Vehicle- ATV which can carry an even heavier payload.
all going well the HTV and the ATV will be docked to the ISS at the same time giving STS-133 some fantastic images!:)
the HTV will be docked manually thursday the 27th by ISS crew using the robotic arm, the ATV is designed to dock automaticly.This HTV is carrying 5.6 tonnes of re-supply.

Just saw this video from JAXA,the Japanese Space agency of HTV-2's launch.

Happy docking!:)

clln

clln

Nice catch by the crew of the iss who sucessfully captured and docked HTV-2 yesterday!:).
this was the view from Cupola surely the the best part of the station during a six month stay!


nice view of it here before Canadarm captured it:


and capture!



And it is all go for the ISS at the moment as a progress ressuply was launched at 01.30 this morning carrying 2.5 tonnes for the station including a Birthday present for Scott Kelly with an not to be opened till message on it:),all going well it should dock automaticly on Sunday.
one
thing of note is that if STS-134 launchs on time this progress will undock whilst the shuttle is still docked,another first!

So far so good for this unique configuration of the iss,next to launch and dock to the iss is the ATV and last but not least STS-133.
The station will then be being serviced from Japan.Baikonur,Guiana and the US.
Truley putting the International into space station!:)

clln

Beeker

Nice coverage there clln. Love to float in the cupola:)

clln

Beeker wrote: »

Nice coverage there clln. Love to float in the cupola:)

Glad you like my holiday snaps!:), 133 better get up there soon as Cupola seems to be the only part of the station that is not bulging with rubbish and stinking!

According to the document, Node 3’s endcone is currently filled with “smelly trash”, and Node 1’s Deck hatch area is filled with overflow cargo destined for the PMM. Node 2’s Overhead and Deck hatch areas are currently unoccupied due to HTV-2 operations, which means that Node 2’s Forward endcone area is filled with cargo that is normally stored in both of these locations.

to add to their problems the ATV-2 should have launched last Autum as well but Arianespace gave priority to another payload.
ATV-2 is to be packed with rubbish and smelly laundry when it leaves to burn up also!
ewww:)

clln

progress made an almost flawless docking in automatic mode at 02.39 GMT,now maybe the crew can get some sleep!:),so stage two of this very uniqe four man band that will culminate with sts-133 is complete.
The ATV is due to launch Feb 15th with docking on the 23rd.

clln

below is the current configuration of the ISS,for the non Russians aboard it would be a very bad time for another revolution:eek:
remind me who was it won the space race?

clln

The ATV-2 was launched a day later than planned today 16th of Feb by Arianes 200th launch
so still on course for this once in a lifetime opportunity to have so many vehicles from so many continents docked to the ISS at once.
all going well it should dock on the 24th of Feb.
next will be a shuttle launch planned for the 25th as of now.

this is so unique that discussion is going on about undocking a Soyuz to take pictures of the show.



ATV-2 as it was tucked in the payload stage at launch.

clln

ATV is now docked just hours before the Shuttle is due to launch!:)
it is all coming together!

clln

I will finish this even if nobody reads it!:D it may have failed to come even to one persons notice on the A&S forum that the shuttle Discovery was launched at 21.55 Thursday,when docked it will be the final part of this jigsaw on the ISS consisting of crafts by all the ISS partners that will never happen again.
since the most recent configuration of ISS posted above a progress has undocked to burn up on re-entry and HTV-2 has been moved to another section of the station.

clln

HTV-2 has been unberthed from the ISS by the Stations robotic arm and will be released to seperate and burn up on re-entry sometime after 4PM.
the HTV is packed with rubbish 80% of which is foam from cargo it,the ATV and the shuttle brougt up.

Japan are fully back in control of both the HTV and the Japanese module on the ISS.they manged to do so remarkably quickly after JAXA's mission control room was completly thrashed after the Earthquake.
In the interim the ISS control room at JSC was able to take over control.

the ISS crew were asked to make some Origami Orizuru(Cranes for Japan)which in Japanese culture are considered symbols of hope and good luck.



Putting out the thrash!



Station crew with their Orizuru's



Orizurus at the ISS flight directors desk at JSC.



hatch sealed.



HTV ready to be released.

Beeker

Thanks clln for your coverage of the comming and goings at the ISS.
The HTV sure is one expensive rubbish truck:)

clln

Beeker wrote: »

.
The HTV sure is one expensive rubbish truck:)

Lol Beeker, ISS and Hubble is nearly all thats left me!:)

Stunning views of Earth coming in from the ISS pemanent live stream feed from the ISS,if anyone wants to watch.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/isslivestream.asx

Beeker

clln wrote: »

Lol Beeker, ISS and Hubble is nearly all thats left me!:)

Stunning views of Earth coming in from the ISS pemanent live stream feed from the ISS,if anyone wants to watch.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/isslivestream.asx

Have it on:)

clln

There it goes.within hours it will be a 'falling star' that Romantic couples,holding hands will see and make a wish upon.
Ssssshhhhhhhhhh now don't tell them they are making wish's on Smelly underwear and foam!

will proably happen over water but for some reason many burn-ups happen over OZ with the danger that a piece of debris that survives might kill Skippy!!!!:eek:

What did OZ ever do to NASA,Space-x,Jaxa,ULA,Roscosmo's, Chinese Lanterns to deserve this treatment!

Beeker

clln wrote: »

There it goes.within hours it will be a 'falling star' that Romantic couples,holding hands will see and make a wish upon.
Ssssshhhhhhhhhh now don't tell them they are making wish's on Smelly underwear and foam!

will proably happen over water but for some reason many burn-ups happen over OZ with the danger that a piece of debris that survives might kill Skippy!!!!:eek:

What did OZ ever do to NASA,Space-x,Jaxa,ULA,Roscosmo's, Chinese Lanterns to deserve this treatment!

Yeah OZ get more than their fair share of reentrys over their heads:eek: The Pacific ocean is always the prefered "Target" for falling spacecraft so I guess that often puts OZ under the final breakup:pac:

clln

Beeker wrote: »

Yeah OZ get more than their fair share of reentrys over their heads:eek: The Pacific ocean is always the prefered "Target" for falling spacecraft so I guess that often puts OZ under the final breakup:pac:

The Native Australians flag! :pac: