Image of the Day
(http://bruce.org.uk/images/jaxa2.jpg)
Despite the Shuttle being retired, the ISS still needs crew rotation and supplies. How does the international space agencies resolve this issue until a new and permanent cargo/transportation/logistics vehicle is put into service?
Here is one of the answers – the photo above is of the unpiloted Japanese Kounotori2 H-II Transfer Vehicle, or HTV2 as it approached the International Space Station.
"The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, launched HTV2 aboard an H-IIB rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan at 12:37 a.m. EST; Jan. 22, 2011.
HTV2 is the second unpiloted cargo ship launched by JAXA to the station and delivered more than four tons of food and supplies to the space station and to its crew members."
Soyuz is still used to transport and exchange the crew members.
Courtesy of NASA