JAXA aims for Human Spaceflight - The indomitable spirit and technological savvy of the Japanese people may give the world another entry for the expansion of humanity into space. The Japanese Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced plans to develop their own crew-capable vehicle, termed the HT-R and based on the HTV cargo vehicle.
Japan has already demonstrated its H-2 Transfer Vehicle can haul cargo and experiments to the space station, and next up could be developing a return capsule to bring equipment from the outpost back to Earth.
JAXA’s leadership is openly pitching the HTV as the foundation of a manned spacecraft, which could fly Japanese crews as soon as 2025.
Maybe there will be a sub-scale version with tiny humanoid robots to become ISS-astronaut-helpers first! No matter where this goes, I for one am excited about any new effort to get people into space.
space engineer, scifi author, technology maven, and addicted to beauty in all forms - the best is always yet to come ...
