H-IIB

The H-IIB, also written H2B, was a Japanese expendable launch system developed jointly by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and used only to launch the H-II Transfer Vehicle cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station. It was a two-stage rocket burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, with four strap-on solid boosters, launched from the Tanegashima Space Center. Its first stage used two LE-7A engines instead of the single engine of the H-IIA, and it could deliver up to 8,000 kilograms to geostationary transfer orbit against 4,000 to 6,000 for the H-IIA. JAXA handled preliminary design and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries manufacturing. It debuted in September 2009 and flew nine times through May 2020, all successfully.