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Welcome to Space the Ground, I'm Kayla LaFrance. This week multiple space launches

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means busy traffic around the station.

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On Tuesday the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency

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or JAXA launched a
cargo vehicle to the International Space

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Station following a successful second
attempt. Developed and built in Japan, the

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H-II Transfer Vehicle, HTV, is known as
Kounotori, which means White Stork in Japanese.

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This uncrewed cargo spacecraft
delivers science supplies and large

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external payloads to earth orbit.
This most recent launch marks the eighth

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mission to the station for the HTV
spacecraft and with it carried over four

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tons of cargo including a set of six new
lithium-ion batteries they'll be

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installed during future spacewalks. NASA
astronauts Christina Koch and Andrew

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Morgan, will welcome the HTV-8 when
they capture the cargo craft with the

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Canadarm 2 on Saturday at about 7:15
a.m. Eastern. the population of the

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The population of the orbiting laboratory grew by 3 on
Wednesday when the newest crew members

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of Expedition 61 launched from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft.

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NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and cosmonaut

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Oleg Skripochka were joined by space
flight participant Hazzaa

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Ali Almansoori of the United Arab
Emirates on a six-hour journey to the station.

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Almansoori  is the first
astronaut to fly into space from the

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United Arab Emirates, and will spend
eight days aboard the station.

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He'll return with cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and
NASA astronaut Nick Hague in October

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which will cover live on NASA TV. The
eight days between the trio's arrival

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and the departure of Soyuz MS-12 
will mark the largest crew the station

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has seen since September 2015, when nine
crew members were there at once for

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seven days during Scott Kelly and
Mikhail Kornienko's year-long mission.