The Kounotori 7 unmanned cargo transporter departed the International Space Station on Thursday to return to Earth with experiment samples, in a first for Japan's space agency.

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said the cargo vessel, the name of which is Japanese for white stork, has been loaded with waste from the ISS and is scheduled to burn up in a controlled manner when it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere Sunday.

Before burning up, it will eject a capsule containing protein crystals that were grown in experiments carried out on the space station.