Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully launched a cargo capsule toward the international space station Aug. 4 in the fourth flight of the H-2B rocket. The rocket, carrying the HTV 4 cargo vessel, dubbed Kounotori 2, lifted off from Tanagashima Space Center at 4:48 a.m. local time. It was the H-2B's first launch since MHI announced last September that it would be taking over operations of the rocket in hopes of capturing a share of the global commercial launch market. The H-2B is capable of placing 8 metric tons of payload into geostationary transfer orbit, which is double the capacity of JAXA's workhorse H-2A rocket.
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