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[b]HTV-7 'Kounotori-7' launches to space station[/b] A Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-IIB rocket launched with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) H-II Transfer Vehicle-7 (HTV-7) at 1:52 p.m. EDT on Saturday (Sept. 22; 2:52 a.m. Sept. 23 Japan standard time) from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. A little more than 15 minutes after launch, the unpiloted cargo spacecraft, also known as as "Kounotori-7," successfully separated from the rocket and began its four-and-a-half day rendezvous with the International Space Station. On Thursday (Sept. 27), the HTV-7 will approach the station from below and slowly inch its way toward the orbiting laboratory. Expedition 56 commander Drew Feustel and flight engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA will operate the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to capture the spacecraft as it approaches. Flight engineer Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) will monitor HTV-7 systems during its approach. Robotic ground controllers will then install it on the Earth-facing side of the Harmony module, where it will remain for several weeks. In addition to new hardware to upgrade the station's electrical power system, the HTV-7 is carrying a new sample holder for the Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (JAXA-ELF), a protein crystal growth experiment at low temperatures (JAXA LT PCG), an investigation that looks at the effect of microgravity on bone marrow (MARROW), a Life Sciences Glovebox and additional EXPRESS Racks.
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