The Kepler ATV Shipped to Kourou

Officials at the European Space Agency (ESA) announce that they have just cleared the second-ever Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) for delivery to Kourou. This capsule is called Johannes Kepler, in honor of the great astronomer, and represents a component of ESA's contribution to the International Space Station (ISS) program. While the United States rely on their shuttles for resupplying the facility, and the Russians have their Soyuz and Progress capsules (for manned and resupply flights, respectively), the Europeans and the Japanese only have unmanned cargo freighters, the ATV and HTV (H-II Transfer Vehicle), respectively.

ESA representatives say that the new vehicle is currently being delivered to the Kourou Spaceport, in the French Guyana. The agency's space launch facility is outfitted to support operations of several types of delivery systems, including the massive Ariane 5 heavy-lift rocket, and the Russian-built Soyuz. The mission to deliver Kepler will take place sometime towards the end of this year, and it will use an Ariane 5 rocket. The unmanned cargo spacecraft is fairly large, and therefore it cannot be accommodated on smaller rockets. The ship is being delivered from Bremen, Germany, where it has recently finished undergoing extensive testing of all its system, at an EADS Astrium facility.

“After an internal review of ATV Johannes Kepler, we have given Astrium 'consent-to-ship', which is an important milestone. This demonstrates the ability of European industry under the lead of Astrium to provide the requested status of the vehicle on time and with the requested quality. When the US Space Shuttle retires, ATV will be the largest vehicle supplying the ISS. Considering its technological challenges, like automatic rendezvous & docking, ATV is the most sophisticated space vehicle ever built in Europe,” says the ESA Director of Human Spaceflight, Simonetta Di Pippo.

“The technology and experience gained with ATV are assets for Europe and its industrial competitiveness as well as a solid basis for further developments to position Europe among the leaders in the exploitation and exploration of space, in low Earth orbit and beyond,” the ESA official adds. In the mean time, as Kepler is being delivered to South America, EADS Astrium is working on the next ATV back in Bremen. “The third ATV, named Edoardo Amaldi, has reached the integration stage in Bremen, and the integration of ATV-4 is set to start shortly,” explains the company's senior vice president of Orbital Systems and Space Exploration, Dr Michael Menking.