Japan launches a new upgraded version of its HTV cargo freighter
Japan today (October 26th in Japan) successfully launched to ISS a new upgraded version of its HTV cargo freighter, its H3 rocket lifting off from its Tanegashima spaceport in southern Japan.
The HTV-X1 carries more than freight. After its cargo is unloaded at ISS it will spend an additional three months flying independently in orbit, where engineers will conduct three additional experiments. JAXA, Japan’s space agency, hopes it can market HTV-X1 for use by the commercial space stations presently being developed. It is also marketing it as a potential orbital capsule that others can use for in-space manufacturing.
This was only the third launch by Japan in 2025, so there is no change to the 2025 leader board:
138 SpaceX
64 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab
SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 138 to 106.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Japan today (October 26th in Japan) successfully launched to ISS a new upgraded version of its HTV cargo freighter, its H3 rocket lifting off from its Tanegashima spaceport in southern Japan.
The HTV-X1 carries more than freight. After its cargo is unloaded at ISS it will spend an additional three months flying independently in orbit, where engineers will conduct three additional experiments. JAXA, Japan’s space agency, hopes it can market HTV-X1 for use by the commercial space stations presently being developed. It is also marketing it as a potential orbital capsule that others can use for in-space manufacturing.
This was only the third launch by Japan in 2025, so there is no change to the 2025 leader board:
138 SpaceX
64 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab
SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 138 to 106.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

