Japan's H-2 Transfer Vehicle Eyed

Japan's H-2 Transfer Vehicle is being eyed by US space officials as a possible candidate spacecraft to boost supplies to the International Space Station following the retirement of the space shuttle fleet in 2010 following the first test flight of the H-2 in the fall of 2009.

Japan started its HTV project in 1997 based on an agreement signed with Russia, Europe and the United States--which jointly operate the ISS--to individually develop a cargo transfer spacecraft.

Besides the Japanese H-2 Transfer Vehicle, the United States hopes to re-supply the space station using Russia's Progress and Soyuz modules, Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle, or ATV. In addition, the US commercial space launch firms SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation are seeking to provide re-supply and possible crew exchange.