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Europe delays maiden launch of space freighter
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  • PARIS, March 3 (AFP) Mar 03, 2008
    The European Space Agency (ESA) on Monday ordered a 24-hour delay in the maiden launch of a robot supply ship to the International Space Station because of technical concerns.

    The Automated Transfer Vehicle will now be launched at 0359 GMT on Sunday, one day late, after a "potential problem" was found in straps used to dissipate a buildup of static electricity in the system to separate the craft from its launcher, the agency said.

    "This item will be checked again, consistent as always with the conservative and precautionary approach taken by ESA to its missions," it added, in a news release.

    The freighter, to be taken aloft by an Ariane 5 ES heavy rocket from ESA's base at Kourou in French Guiana, is one of Europe's biggest contributions to the ISS.

    It has an at-launch mass of 19.5 tonnes, of which 7.5 tonnes comprise food, water, oxygen, equipment and other items of cargo, delivered by the ISS by automatic navigation.

    The supply ship is due to be berthed to the space station until August before separating, taking with it station waste, and then it will break up over the Pacific.

    The first in the five-craft series is baptised Jules Verne after the 19th-century French science fiction author.




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