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Thu, April 03, 2008 01:15:56 PMFrom:
CBS Space News
Subject:
1p 4/3 Update: ATV successfully docks with space station
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CBS NEWS Coverage of Breaking Space News
Posted: 01:00 PM, 4/3/08
By William Harwood
CBS News Space Consultant
Changes and additions:
03/08/08 (01:00 AM): ATV "Jules Verne" successfully launched
03/09/08 (12:05 PM): Engineers troubleshoot ATV thruster control problem
03/09/08 (02:15 PM): ESA says propulsion system glitch due to pressure differential in fuel/oxider; troubleshooting continues
03/09/08 (03:47 PM): ESA ATV project manager describes propulsion problem
04/03/08 (01:00 PM): ATV docks with space station
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01:00 PM, 4/3/08, Update: ATV docks with international space station
The European Space Agency's "Jules Verne," the first of a new breed of unmanned, state-of-the-art cargo ships built to deliver supplies and equipment to the international space station, successfully maneuvered to a precision docking today after a "textbook" final approach.
With station flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko standing by in the station's Zvezda command module to transmit abort commands if any last-minute problems developed, the bus-size automated transfer vehicle (ATV) Jules Verne docked at 10:45 a.m. as the two spacecraft sailed 215 miles above the Atlantic Ocean east of South America.
"The range is five meters, the parameters are nominal, the systems are nominal," a Russian translator relayed as the ATV closed in. "Now about two meters... no (abort) commands, the parameters are nominal. Waiting for the contact... We have contact. Nominal systems."
As hooks and latches engaged to firmly lock the ATV to Zvezda's aft docking port, NASA mission control commentator Rob Navias described the final stages of the rendezvous as "a textbook docking on it's maiden flight."
"Docking confirmed at 9:45 a.m. Central time just south of the equator over the Atlantic Ocean," Navias reported. "Around the world in 26 days, the European Space Agency's Jules Verne automated transfer vehicle has pulled into port at the international space station."
If all goes well, Malenchenko, station commander Peggy Whitson and flight engineer Garrett Reisman will open the ATV early Friday and set up an air scrubber to thoroughly filter and mix the air inside the cargo ship with the station's atmosphere. The scrubber must run for a full eight hours and the crew is not expected to fully enter the ATV and begin its initial setup until Saturday. Cargo transfers are scheduled to begin Monday.
"I am incredibly proud of and pleased for our European partners with this demonstration of a successful automated docking of the ATV cargo vehicle with the ISS," NASA Administrator Mike Griffin said in a statement. "Only Russia has previously achieved a successful automated docking in space. This accomplishment showcases yet again the progress which has been made by the international partnership in bringing this incredible program to fruition. Together with the arrival of the Columbus Module at the ISS earlier this year, the success of the ATV marks the arrival of Europe as a full-fledged space power. I applaud their achievement."
NASA ATV Flight Director Brian Smith described today's docking as "historic" and said it went so smoothly "because we spent years, literally years, preparing the operations."
"What was unique about this mission was what we dubbed the trilateral nature of it," he said. "For the first time, we were conducting realtime operations from three control centers around the world - ATV control center, located in Toulouse, France; and of course, MCC-Moscow and here, MCC-H, Houston. Orchestrating realtime operations, critical realtime operations for rendezvous and docking, is extremely complicated and we spent a lot of time preparing for a nominal approach, which is what we had today, as well as many failures we were prepared to deal with."
Along with carrying supplies and equipment, the ATV also carries water and rocket fuel. It is capable of re-orienting the entire space station and boosting the craft to a higher orbit. An attitude control test is planned for Saturday and if all goes well, a reboost maneuver will be attempted in a few weeks, after the arrival of a Soyuz ferry craft carrying the station's next full-time crew.
The Jules Verne is the first of at least five ATVs being built by the European Space Agency as part of a $7 billion investment in the international space station project. That figure includes the cost of the ATV, ESA's Columbus research module, attached to the station in February, and the ground infrastructure required to operate them.
The first ATV was launched March 9 by an Ariane 5 rocket and placed in a parking orbit while NASA carried out shuttle mission STS-123. The shuttle Endeavour returned to Earth on March 26 and after two practice approaches to make sure the ATV's flight software, navigation and propulsion systems were working properly, U.S., Russian and ESA flight controllers cleared the craft for its long-awaited automated docking today.
"The ATV is the heaviest and most complex vehicle ever developed at ESA," ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain said after launch. "The heaviest, because at liftoff it weighs over 20 tons and is carrying nine tons of cargo. The most complex, because at one and the same time, it's a launcher stage, a satellite when it's in free flight and a part of the manned infrastructure when it is docked. It is a unique vehicle allowing for automatic rendezvous with the ISS which, since the arrival of the Columbus, ESA is now a joint owner."
The ATV, about the size of a British double-decker bus, has about three times the capacity of a Russian Progress supply ship. That's a major factor in NASA's planning as the U.S. space agency prepares to retire the shuttle in 2010.
"The ATV as a logistics vehicle carries almost three times the hardware and fuel and water and oxygen that a Progress can carry for us," said Mike Suffredini, space station program manager for NASA. "So it is a major contribution to the program. Probably more significantly will be post 2010 when the shuttle is no longer available for us to do much of the logistics work it does. To me, that's a key part of what the automated transfer vehicle brings to the program."
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Quick-Launch Web Links:
CBS News STS-123 Status Reports:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html
CBS News STS-123 Quick-Look Page:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/currentglance.html
NASA Shuttle Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/index.html
NASA Station Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/index.html
Spaceflight Now: http://spaceflightnow.com/index.html
GoogleSatTrack: http://www.lizard-tail.com/isana/tracking/
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