The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet captured and berthed Japan’s HTV-6 supply craft on 14 December using the International Space Station’s 17 m-long Canadarm2 robotic arm.
The H-II Transfer Vehicle, or HTV, is also called Kounotori – Japanese for ‘white stork’. The sixth craft in the series, it was launched from Japan’s Tanegashima spaceport on 9 December.
Setting up a temporary robotics workstation in the Station’s Cupola observatory module, the astronauts monitored the approaching six-tonne craft until it stopped 10 m from the Station. Working two joysticks, Shane moved Canadarm2 to grasp HTV-6 before berthed it at the Station’s Harmony module.