March 8, 2008: Maiden Voyage of 'œJules Verne' to Space Station

William Atkins
Tuesday, 04 March 2008 23:32

Science - Space

The first launch of the European Space Agency’s automated transfer vehicle (ATV), The Jules Verne, will be broadcast live by NASA Television.         

The launch of the Jules Verne ATV spacecraft is scheduled for 10:04 p.m. Central Standard Time (CST) on Saturday, March 8, 2008. NASA will begin coverage of the ATV launch and mission to the International Space Station at 9:15 p.m. CST.

Jules Verne will be launched on top of a modified Ariane 5 rocket (or, Ariane 5 Evolution Storable upper stage Automated Transfer Vehicle [A5 ES-ATV]) from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.

NASA will broadcast the mission on the Internet at NASA TV. The television coverage, from the NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, will originate from the ESA and Arianespace.

Live television coverage of the mission by NASA will continue until the solar arrays are deployed on the ATV, which will be about one hour, thirty-six minutes into the flight.

A backup launch will be scheduled for Sunday, March 9, 2008 in case the primary launch is postponed on Saturday. NASA Television coverage will begin at 9:45 p.m. CDT.

For those of you watching the launch, the two solid rocket boosters of the Ariane 5 will separate from the main stage about two minutes, ten seconds into the flight.

About one minute, ten seconds later (three minutes, twenty seconds into the flight) the fairing protecting the ATV will be ejected.

The ATV will reach a temporary orbit at about nine minutes after its launch. At this time, the main cryogenic stage will separate, leaving the ATV with its upper stage.

The upper stage will ignite its engines at that point for about eight minutes in order to insert the ATV into an elliptical orbit.

About forty-five minutes later, about half-way through its first orbit, another engine ignition will occur, which will circularize its orbit at about 185 miles (300 kilometers) above the surface of Earth.

The unmanned twenty-two ton ATV will carry approximately eight tons of cargo and supplies to the crew of the International Space Station. During its stay at the ISS, the ATV will use its four primary engines to re-boost the station to higher orbits.

The ESA is providing its ATV for re-supply missions to the ISS, along with the Russian Progress cargo missions. The ESA controls its ATV missions from the ESA ATAV Control Center in Toulouse, France, along with assistance from the Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev, Russia, and the NASA Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas, United States.

Normally, only a few days would be taken between launch to docking at the Space Station. However, for this maiden flight special procedures are being performed. Please read on.