Japanese H-2B rocket carrying the Kounotori 8 unmanned cargo vessel lifts off from Tanegashima Space Center in Minami Tanega, southern Japan, early Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019. The Japanese supply ship rocketed toward the International Space Station, two weeks after a launch pad fire halted the first countdown. (Kyodo News via AP)
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - A Japanese supply ship rocketed toward the International Space Station on Tuesday, two weeks after a launch pad fire halted the first countdown.
Japanese officials traced the fire to static electricity and oxygen propellant, and corrected the problem.
The 4-ton shipment should arrive at the space station Saturday. Spacewalking astronauts will install the six new lithium-ion batteries later this year, replacing old-style batteries. The cargo ship is named Kounotori, Japanese for white stork.
The Japanese Space Agency is one of several organizations making periodic station deliveries. Russia sends up supplies, as do SpaceX and Northrop Grumman on NASA's behalf.
Russia, meanwhile, plans to launch three astronauts to the space station Wednesday, including the first person from the United Arab Emirates bound for orbit.
Japanese H-2B rocket carrying the Kounotori 8 unmanned cargo vessel lifts off from Tanegashima Space Center in Minami Tanega, southern Japan, early Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019. The Japanese supply ship rocketed toward the International Space Station, two weeks after a launch pad fire halted the first countdown. (Kyodo News via AP)
The Associated Press
Japanese H-2B rocket carrying the Kounotori 8 unmanned cargo vessel lifts off from Tanegashima Space Center in Minami Tanega, southern Japan, early Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019. The Japanese supply ship rocketed toward the International Space Station, two weeks after a launch pad fire halted the first countdown. (Kyodo News via AP)
The Associated Press
This photo provided by NASA shows a unmanned rocket carrying the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's supply vessel is launched off from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019. The spacecraft is loaded with more than four tons of supplies, spare parts, and experiment hardware is headed to the International Space Station. (NASA via AP)
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From left, United Arab Emirates astronaut Hazza Al Mansouri, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka, and U.S. astronaut Jessica Meir, members of the main crew to the International Space Station (ISS), attend a news conference in Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019. The new Soyuz mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled on Wednesday, Sept 25. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
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In this image provided by NASA, from left, spaceflight participant Hazzaa Ali Almansoori, of the United Arab Emirates, and Expedition 61 prime crew members Oleg Skripochka, of Roscosmos, and Jessica Meir, of NASA, participate in a press conference, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019, at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Meir, Skripochka, and Almansoori are slated to launch on Wednesday, Sept. 25 on the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
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