H-II Transfer Vehicle KOUNOTORI (HTV)

Best Wishes from Space

The crew members aboard the International Space Station (ISS) folded paper cranes (origami cranes) wishing for the early restoration for all those affected by the Tohoku-Kanto Earthquake in Japan.

The ISS crew's heartfelt concerns and wishes have spread to the ISS partners, NASA, ESA and Russia. People at those agencies began to make paper cranes wishing for the early and successful restoration in Japan.

The paper cranes folded by the ISS crew members were placed into the KOUNOTORI2 (HTV2). The KOUNOTORI2 is scheduled to unberth from the ISS at 0:45 a.m. on March 29, and reenter the Earth's atmosphere on March 30, 2011.

Expedition 26/27 crew members and their paper cranes

Paper cranes placed into the KOUNOTORI2

HTV Mission Control Room (HTV MCR) at the Tsukuba Space Center (TKSC)

Kibo Mission Control Room (MCR) at the TKSC

NASA's Mission Control Center (MCC-H) at Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston

NASA's Mission Control Center (MCC-H) at Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston

ESA's Columbus Control Centre (Col-CC)

*All times are Japan Standard Time (JST. UTC + 9 hours)