HTV Unberth and Release

ISS021-E-017623 (30 Oct. 2009) --- Backdropped by a cloud-covered part of Earth, the unpiloted Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), filled with trash and unneeded items, departs from the International Space Station. European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne, Expedition 21 commander; NASA astronaut Nicole Stott and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk, both flight engineers, used the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to grab the HTV cargo craft and unberth it from the Harmony node’s nadir port. The HTV was successfully unberthed at 10:18 a.m. (CDT) on Oct. 30, 2009, and released from the station’s Canadarm2 at 12:32 p.m.