Kounotori 2
Operation while berthed to ISS
### Operation while berthed to ISS

While Kounotori 2 was berthed to the ISS, the crew entered and removed the supplies from the HTV PLC.

Space shuttle mission [STS\-133](/wiki/STS-133 "STS-133") arrived while Kounotori 2 was berthed to ISS. To avoid interference with the payload bay of the shuttle, Kounotori 2 was relocated from *Harmony* [nadir](/wiki/Nadir "Nadir") port to [zenith](/wiki/Zenith "Zenith") port. This was done on 18 February 2011, before the launch of STS\-133\.

After space shuttle Discovery departed the [International Space Station](/wiki/International_Space_Station "International Space Station") and the [STS\-133](/wiki/STS-133 "STS-133") mission was completed, on 10 March 2011, the ISS crew robotically relocated Kounotori 2 back to the nadir port of the Harmony module. The moving operation began at 11:49 UTC. The spacecraft was attached to the Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) at Harmony's Earth\-facing nadir port at 16:19 UTC. The CBM bolts were fastened at 17:20\. The five\-hour\-long moving operation was completed when the space station crew completed the connections of the electrical cables/lines between the Kounotori's Pressurized Logistics Module (PLC) and the Harmony module at 18:55 UTC.

During the stay of Kounotori 2 at the ISS, the [M\-9\.0 earthquake](/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami "2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami") occurred on 11 March 2011\. The ground control center in [Tsukuba](/wiki/Tsukuba%2C_Ibaraki "Tsukuba, Ibaraki") was damaged, and the monitoring operation had to be handed over temporarily to [NASA](/wiki/NASA "NASA"). Mission control room resumed the operation on 22 March 2011\.


Why was Kounotori 2 relocated?