EXPRESS (German)
EXPeriment REentry Space System
The payload used a Russian-built reentry vehicle and the launch was carried out
by the Japanese ISAS space agency. It was due to land in the Australian desert
after a five day flight, but the TVC (thrust vector control) on the second
stage malfunctioned 103 seconds after launch, and the fourth stage and payload
entered a 110 x 250 km x 33 deg orbit, instead of the intended 270 x 380 km
one. This failure was probably due to second-stage attitude-control
oscillations that exhausted attitude-control fuel. The reentry capsule decay in
Ghana whereas the service module reentered over the Pacific on its second orbit
of the Earth.
The reentry vehicle carried two CATEX materials processing ovens, and three
German (CETEX, PYREX and RAFLEX) and one Japanese (RTEX) heat shield material
reentry experiments.