14 DAY TRIAL // After undocking from the International Space Station on October 28, the European Space Agency's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4), dubbed Albert Einstein, reentered Earth's atmosphere on November 2. This image shows the spacecraft as it plunges to its fiery death.
ATV-4 burned up high over uninhabited areas of the southern Pacific Ocean. The large container weighed 20 tons when it was launched into space, and a little less when it returned, filled with garbage and other unnecessary items from the space station.
This image was collected from aboard the ISS shortly after Albert Einstein had entered its safe orbit, around 100 kilometers (62 miles) below the lab. The spacecraft had already begun its fiery plunge to Earth, which eventually saw it completely destroyed.
It took five days for ATV-4 to maneuver into position below the station, guided by ESA experts at its command center, in Toulouse, France. This position was required if ISS astronauts were to record its destruction high above the Earth.