The Yomiuri Shimbun –
TOKYO — Akihiko Hoshide used a robotic arm to grab the Kounotori 3 cargo spacecraft late Friday, then docked it with the International Space Station, becoming the first Japanese astronaut to perform the task.
The unmanned H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV-3), also known as Kounotori 3, arrived Friday evening at the ISS, where Hoshide is staying as a crew member. It was the third such Japanese craft to be vaulted into space.
At 9:23 p.m., Hoshide, 43, and a U.S. crew member caught the supply craft using the station’s robotic arm. They then docked it with the ISS, completing the mission at about 12:20 a.m. Saturday.
Just after catching the Kounotori 3, Hoshide told the ground station in Japanese: “I would like all of the people in Japan to know that the Kounotori full of Japanese technology and pride has arrived. Seen through the window (it) is very beautiful.”
When the robotic arm latched onto the Kounotori 3, officials at a control center of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Tsukuba Space Center in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, broke into applause.
