ATV completes laser-guided docking

BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: August 13, 2014

Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle made its final cargo delivery to the International Space Station on Tuesday, completing a smooth computer-controlled docking to resupply the orbiting laboratory with 7.3 tons of fuel, water, experiments and provisions.

Fitted with distinctive X-shaped solar arrays, the European Space agency's ATV cargo craft appeared as an insect looming behind the space station, with live television views showing the spaceship firing off rocket thrusters to manage its approach.

With a glacial closing rate of about 2 inches per second, the 20-ton supply ship linked up with the space station's Zvezda service module at 1330 GMT (9:30 a.m. EDT) as the spacecraft sailed 260 miles over southern Kazakhstan at a velocity of more than 17,000 mph.

Lasers and radars guided the ATV for the final phase of the rendezvous, which completed a two-week journey after the craft's July 29 launch aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana.

Spectacular photos from Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, who runs a photo blog from the space station, show the spacecraft's rendezvous and docking.

See our Mission Status Center for the latest news on the mission.

Photo credit: Oleg Artemyev

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