Article Posted on : - Nov 03, 2009

TOKYO (BNS): Japan’s maiden cargo spaceship, H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) Demonstration Flight, re-entered into Earth’s atmosphere and took burial in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of New Zealand after successfully completing its cargo transportation operations to the International Space Station.

The spacecraft de-orbited from the ISS on Sunday and re-entered the atmosphere after third de-orbit maneouver at around 6:26 am on Monday, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said in a statement.

The 10-meter long, 4.4 meters wide spacecraft with a solar-powered cylinder delivered over 4.5 metric tons of scientific equipment to the ISS during its 52-day long mission.

The HTV Demonstration Flight successfully accomplished its initial objective of shipping cargos to the ISS, and completed all its missions of about 52 days by today's reentry, JAXA said.

Japan had launched the freighter on board its indigenously-built H-2B rocket on September 11, 2009, adding a new chapter in the history of its space programme.