NASA TV Coverage Set for Japanese Cargo Ship Destined for Space Station

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Jul 31, 2013, 12:03 ET

WASHINGTON, July 31, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The launch of a Japanese cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station and its arrival at the orbiting laboratory will be broadcast on NASA Television Aug. 3 and Aug. 9.

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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is scheduled to launch its H-II Transport Vehicle (HTV)-4 at 3:48 p.m. EDT Saturday, Aug. 3 (4:48 a.m. Japanese time Sunday, Aug. 4), from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. NASA TV coverage will begin at 3 p.m.

Loaded with more than 3.5 tons of supplies, water, spare parts and experiment hardware for the six-person station crew, the unpiloted cargo craft, named Kounotori, the Japanese word for white stork, will embark on a six-day flight to the station.

On Friday, Aug. 9, the HTV-4 will approach the station from below and inch its way slowly toward the complex. Expedition 36 Flight Engineers Karen Nyberg and Chris Cassidy of NASA will operate the station's robot arm to reach out and capture the 12-ton spacecraft and install it on the Earth-facing side of the Harmony module, where it will spend a month. Flight engineer Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency will monitor HTV-4 systems during the rendezvous.

NASA TV coverage of the rendezvous and capture of the HTV-4 on Aug. 9 will begin at 6 a.m. Capture is scheduled about 7:29 a.m. Coverage of the final installation of the resupply craft to Harmony will resume at 9 a.m.

For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the International Space Station and its crew, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

SOURCE NASA