Jules Verne ready to fly

Stephen Withers
Monday, 26 March 2007 07:36

Science - Space

Jules Verne, the first of five automated spacecraft designed to carry cargo to the International Space Station, is ready to fly.

Designed to dock with the Russian Zvezda module without human intervention, Jules Verne is the first of five automated transfer vehicles (ATVs) being built by the European Space Agency to resupply the ISS with as much as six tonnes of cargo at a time.

In addition to hauling freight, the ATVs will be used to boost the space station into a higher orbit and provide attitude control while they are docked.

Jules Verne's first flight is expected to be in September or November. It will be launched on an Ariane 5, and will be that rocket's heaviest payload so far.

Members of the ISS Expedition 16 crew are undergoing ATV training in Germany. "Their task during rendezvous will be similar to that of an aircraft crew monitoring an auto-land involving 14 different parameters, with no back-up manual control except the possibility to command an automatic go-around maneuver", said ESA astronaut Jean-François Clervoy, the senior advisor to the ATV programme.