Japan’s first H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV-1) arrived at the international space station Sept. 17 carrying 5 tons of cargo on its maiden flight to the orbital outpost.  HTV-1 launched atop an H-2B rocket Sept.10 and spent several days demonstrating collision avoidance maneuvers and undergoing tests before closing within 10 meters of the station where it was captured by the Canadarm2 robotic arm.

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