Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




SPACEMART
Space cargo ship set for docking with ISS
by Staff Writers
Paris (AFP) Aug 11, 2014


Europe's final robot cargo ship to the International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled to dock on Tuesday -- its manoeuvres webcast live from several angles, France's CNES space agency said on Monday.

The automated transfer vehicle (ATV), the fifth and last that Europe had pledged for lifeline deliveries to the orbiting outpost, was blasted into space on July 30 from Kourou in French Guiana.

Weighing in at more than 20 tonnes, the double decker bus-sized craft is carrying the biggest-ever payload of more than 6.6 tonnes, including fuel, water, oxygen, food, clothes and scientific experiments for the six ISS crew.

Having navigated its way to the ISS by starlight, the craft is set to dock with its target at a height of about 400 kilometres (250 miles) above the Earth at 1330 GMT on Tuesday.

"For the first time, CNES will be broadcasting live pictures of the event on its website from five cameras," the agency said in a statement.

The webcast will start at 1245 GMT.

This will include live footage of the approaching ATV from cameras on the ISS and updates from the ATV control room at the CNES Space Centre in Toulouse, in charge of docking operations.

The craft is named after Georges Lemaitre, the Belgian astrophysicist who proposed the "Big Bang" theory of how the Universe came into being.

After unloading its cargo, the 10-metre (33-feet) pressurised capsule will provide additional living and working space for the astronauts and use its onboard engines to boost the altitude of the space station, which loses height through atmospheric drag each day.

At the end of its six-month mission, filled with garbage and human waste, the spacecraft will undock and burn up in a controlled re-entry over the South Pacific.

The ISS will in future be resupplied by Russia's Progress freighter and the Dragon and Cygnus craft built by two NASA-contracted private American firms -- Space X and Orbital Sciences.

.


Related Links
The latest information about the Commercial Satellite Industry






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








SPACEMART
Europe launches last resupply ship to space station
Paris (AFP) July 30, 2014
An Ariane 5 ES heavy rocket lifted off from South America late Tuesday bearing Europe's fifth and final robot supply ship for the International Space Station (ISS), mission control said. The rocket rose from the launch pad at the European Space Agency's base in Kourou, French Guiana at 8:47 pm (2347 GMT) with a payload of more than 20 tonnes, the biggest in ESA's history, it said. After ... read more


SPACEMART
China to send orbiter to moon and back

August supermoon will be brightest this year

Manned Moon Mission to Cost Russia $2.8 Bln

Tidal forces gave moon its shape

SPACEMART
Opportunity Heads to 'Marathon Valley'

NASA Mars Curiosity Rover: Two Years and Counting on Red Planet

Robotic Rock Climbers Could Uncover Clues to Mars' Past

Russia To Construct Landing Pad For ExoMars Mission

SPACEMART
NASA Selects Proposals for Advanced Energy Storage Systems

NEEMO 18 Aquanauts Complete Underwater Mission

NASA Selects Innovative Advanced Concepts For More Study

NASA's Space Launch System Boosters Office Completes Critical Design Review

SPACEMART
More Tasks for China's Moon Mission

China's Circumlunar Spacecraft Unmasked

China to launch HD observation satellite this year

Lunar rock collisions behind Yutu damage

SPACEMART
Robonaut Upgrades, Spacewalk Preps and Cargo Ops for ISS Crew

US EVAa Delayed; Crew Preps For Russian EVA, Robonaut Upgrades

Europe's Fifth and Final Resupply Ship Launches to Station

Science and Spacesuit Work While ATV-5 Preps for Launch

SPACEMART
Russia to Decide on Future of Sea Launch Project by End of 2014

SpaceX launches AsiaSat8 into orbit via Falcon 9 rocket

United Launch Alliance Launches Two Rockets in Just Four Days

AsiaSat 8 Successfully Lifts Off

SPACEMART
Rotation of Planets Influences Habitability

Planet-like object may have spent its youth as hot as a star

Young binary star system may form planets with weird and wild orbits

Hubble Finds Three Surprisingly Dry Exoplanets

SPACEMART
USN Moderates CubeSat RF Communications Standards Meeting

IT outsourcing boom boosts struggling Bulgaria

NASA Engineer Set to Complete First 3-D Printed Space Cameras

Disney develops tool to design inflatable characters and structures




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.