Human spaceflight

NASA described HTV-X1 departure plans on 2 March, targeting Canadarm2 release around noon EST on 6 March, early 7 March in Japan. JAXA’s earlier announcement is supplementary evidence of the same departure programme. The vehicle delivered approximately 12,000 pounds of supplies and was attached beneath Harmony. Robotic detachment precedes release, monitored by NASA astronaut Chris Williams. Independent flight was to continue for more than three months with environmental, satellite-deployment, laser-ranging and flight-technology demonstrations. Departure does not end the entire mission. Planned operations are not reported as completed experiments. Different source time precisions are preserved rather than converted into an invented exact shared minute.