ESA and Arianespace launch the 200's Ariane 5

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

ATV launches from Kourou, South America

The Automated Transfer Vehicle - 2 or ATV-2, named "Johannes Kepler" is on his way to the International Space Station. The first operational ATV launched some minutes ago on an Ariane 5 rocket at 21:50:55 GMT from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, South America.

After an eight-day journey, the spacecraft will rendezvous and dock to the aft port of the station's Zvezda service module.

ATV-2 will remain attached to Zvezda until early June, when it will undock and de-orbit for a destructive re-entry into Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.

Sources: ESA, NASA

Today's ATV-2 launch delayed by 24-hours

The launch of the Automated Transfer Vehicle - 2 or ATV-2, named "Johannes Kepler", has been delayed, at least, until tomorrow.

There was an erroneous piece of data coming from the filling of the launcher therefore one of the status panel lights went red during the final countdown. Officials at the ATV Control Center in Toulouse said, "since we had no launch window, there will be no other attempt".

Today's launch of the Ariane 5 rocket has been postponed because there is only a single moment in time for liftoff each day to rendezvous with the International Space Station. Tomorrow's launch time for sending ATV-2 to the International Space Station will be 21:50 GMT.

This unplanned technical problem has stopped the countdown. The countdown has been halted at 22:09 GMT. It was at Minus-4 minutes and 1 second.

If the Ariane 5 does launch tomorrow, the result will be a 24-hour delay to Space Shuttle Discovery's planned liftoff next week. The sliding schedule would see ATV dock with the space station on February 24, a day later than originally scheduled because of today's scrub. Discovery would then launch on February 25.

Sources: ESA, NASA

Busy schedule for the International Space Station in 2011

The first half of the year 2011 is a busy time for the space station. Japan's HII-Transfer Vehicle (HTV), Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) will deliver supplies to the outpost. Soyuz capsules will arrive and depart with crews and Progress spacecraft ferry cargo for the Russian segment of the station. At least two space shuttle visits are planned, Discovery's STS-133 mission for the 24th of February and Endeavour's STS-134 mission in April on their final voyages to the International Space Station.

The next Progress freighter is scheduled to launch January 27. The European Space Agency plans to dispatch the ATV to the station on February 15.

Late February and early March will be the only time in the station's history that all of its existing piloted and unpiloted visiting vehicles will be present at the orbiting lab. If schedules hold, the shuttle Discovery, HTV, ATV, Soyuz and Progress spacecraft should be docked to the complex at the same time.

Second ATV heading to Kourou for launch

The second of ESA's ATV automated cargo craft has been cleared for shipping to the launch site in Kourou. Its launch on an Ariane 5 to the International Space Station is scheduled for late this year.

Read the whole article here:
http://www.esa.int/export/esaHS/SEMMYA19Y8G_index_0.html

ATV - Julio Verne, la nave europea a la Estación Espacial, se lanzará el 9 de Marzo

Arianespace, la constructora de cohetes ARIANE y la Agencia Europea del Espacio (ESA) confirman que el lanzamiento del primer Vehículo Automático de Transferencia (ATV), bautizado con el nombre Julio Verne, se retrasa 24 horas por razones técnicas relacionadas con el sistema de separación entre el ATV y el Ariane 5.

La ESA y Arianespace han optado por posponer el lanzamiento un día, para disponer así de unos márgenes seguros para la cuenta atrás. El lanzamiento de Julio Verne queda así programado para la noche del sábado 8 al domingo 9 de Marzo de 2008 desde Kourou, Guyana Francesa, Sudamérica.

El ATV de la ESA, Julio Verne, llevará a la Estación Espacial Internacional experimentos, equipos y piezas de recambio, así como comida, agua y aire para la tripulación permanente.

Aunque el Centro de Control del ATV se encuentra en Toulose, Francia, cabe remarcar que desde el Centro de Control Columbus estaremos dando soporte técnico durante su lanzamiento, transferencia orbital hasta su llegada y acoplamiento al segmento ruso de la Estación Espacial. El programa del ATV es un proyecto conjunto entre las agencias espaciales de Europa y Rusia.

A continuación pueden encontrar las horas en la rampa de despegue, GMT, Paris y Moscú :
KOUROU: 0:59 a.m. del 9 de Marzo 2008.
GMT: 3:59 a.m. del 9 de Marzo 2008.
PARIS: 4:59 a.m. del 9 de Marzo 2008.
MOSCU: 6:59 a.m. del 9 de Marzo 2008.

El lanzamiento se podrá seguir en internet:
http://www.videocorner.tv/index.php?langue=en

Live webcasting empezará 20 minutes antes del despegue y el video es recomendable verlo en formato RealMedia y WindowsMedia.

J. Martín Canales Romero

"Consulting & Engineering for Space"