KOUNOTORI Program

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), nicknamed KOUNOTORI, was an uncrewed cargo-transfer program that resupplied the International Space Station from 2009 through the final HTV9 mission in 2020. Launched by H-IIB, each vehicle delivered food, clothing, experiments, and other equipment to the ISS, then carried waste for destructive atmospheric re-entry; the program demonstrated reliable rendezvous, docking, and high-capacity orbital logistics.