Video: Atlas 5 rocket launches space station cargo mission

Japan’s sixth HTV supply ship departed the International Space Station on Friday and headed for a destructive re-entry over the South Pacific with trash and disused batteries from the research lab, but engineers will first use the spacecraft for a pioneering experiment to investigate a new way to remove space junk from orbit.

Japan’s fifth HTV cargo freighter completed a five-day flight to the International Space Station on Monday, making a glacial laser-guided approach to the complex with a 9,500-pound package of food, spare parts and experiments.

Watch the pre-flight news conference that introduces NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket on Sept. 8. It will capture a sample of Asteroid Bennu for return to Earth.