The flight of an Ariane 5 rocket, Europe's workhorse launcher for communications satellites and large government payloads, supports the second mission of an ATV, an unmanned resupply vehicle the size of a double-decker bus.
Today's launch was the 200th flight of the Ariane rocket family since its first mission on Christmas Eve 1979. It is the 56th launch of an Ariane 5 rocket, which has built up a reliable record of 41 straight successful flights since 2003.
Named for Johannes Kepler, the famous German astronomer and mathematician, the spacecraft carries 5,929 pounds of dry cargo in its pressurized cabin. The ship will also deliver 220 pounds of breathing oxygen and 1,875 pounds of rocket propellant for the space station's Zvezda service module.
The ATV-2 mission is occurring amid a flurry of visiting spacecraft at the international outpost. Japan's H-2 Transfer Vehicle, similar in size to the ATV, arrived at the space station January 27. A smaller Russian Progress 40P freighter also docked at the complex last month.
The shuttle Discovery will launch February 25, one day after the ATV's docking, to deliver an Italian-built stowage module with more fresh supplies.
Once Discovery arrives at the station, all of the program's existing servicing vehicles will be present at the complex. It will be the first and only time a space shuttle will be docked to the station along with Russian, European and Japanese spacecraft.
Below its is an extract of ATV-2 launch:
21:50:55 GMT
Liftoff of the Ariane 5 rocket with Johannes Kepler, Europe's second Automated Transfer Vehicle to supply the International Space Station.
21:51:55 GMT
Plus+60 seconds. The Ariane 5 has roared away from the South American jungle launch site in Kourou, French Guiana. The combined power generated by the twin solid rocket boosters and liquid-fueled main stage engine are propelling this heaviest-ever Ariane payload into the overcast evening sky. The rocket has gone transonic and is nearing the region of maximum aerodynamic pressure.
21:52 GMT
Plus+90 seconds. Burning more than 5 metric tons of fuel per second, Ariane is soaring into the sky bound for the International Space Station.
21:53 GMT
Plus+2 minutes, 26 seconds. The solid rocket boosters have been jettisoned from the Ariane 5 rocket's core stage. The liquid-fueled Vulcain main engine continues to fire to propel the vehicle and its satellite payload to space.
22:00 GMT
Plus+9 minutes, 20 seconds. Arianespace confirms the Vulcain 2 main engine of the first stage has shut down, the stage has separated and the upper stage's Aestus engine has ignited to send the ATV into a parking orbit around Earth.
22:03 GMT
Plus+12 minutes. Altitude is 146 kilometers and velocity is 7.2 kilometers per second.
22:08 GMT
Plus+17 minutes, 20 seconds. The Aestus engine has turned off after firing for about 8 minutes to place the ATV payload in a temporary parking orbit.
The Ariane is now entering a ballistic phase, in which the rocket will fly over Europe, Asia and Australia before restarting the Aestus engine to circularize its orbit with a high point of 161 miles and a low point of about 85 miles.
22:16 GMT
Plus+25 minutes. The Ariane 5 rocket has passed out of communications tracking sites in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Azores. Ground stations in Australia and New Zealand, along with NASA's TDRSS satellite network, will monitor the second Ariane 5 upper stage burn and the deployment of Johannes Kepler, ESA's second Automated Transfer Vehicle.
Source: ESA, NASA
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