{"id":2705,"date":"2015-02-16T06:52:15","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T06:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/?p=2705"},"modified":"2015-02-16T06:52:15","modified_gmt":"2015-02-16T06:52:15","slug":"last-atp-reentry-leaves-legacy-for-future-space-exploration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/last-atp-reentry-leaves-legacy-for-future-space-exploration\/","title":{"rendered":"Last ATP reentry leaves legacy for future space exploration"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"ATV-5<\/a>
ATV-5 reentry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ESA\u2019s fifth automated cargo ferry completed its mission to the International Space Station today when it reentered the atmosphere and burned up safely over an uninhabited area of the southern Pacific Ocean.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"ATV-5<\/a>
ATV-5 liftoff on Ariane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The end of the mission as the craft broke up as planned at about 18:04 GMT (19:04 CET) marks the end of the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) programme. The programme has served the Station with the most complex space vehicle ever developed in Europe, achieving five launches in six years following its 2008 debut.<\/span><\/p>\n

ATVs delivered more than 31 500 kg of supplies over the course of their five missions. They boosted the Station to raise its orbit numerous times and similarly moved it out of the way of space debris.<\/span><\/p>\n

The vehicles demonstrated European mastering of automated docking, a technology that is vital for further space exploration.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

This last ATV,\u00a0Georges Lema\u00eetre<\/i>, set the record for the heaviest Ariane 5 launch when it climbed into space from Europe\u2019s Spaceport in French Guiana on 29 July 2014.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before undocking, the Station crew loaded it with waste material, freeing up space on the weightless research centre.<\/span><\/p>\n

The European cargo ship undocked on 14 February at 13:40 GMT (14:40 CET) and manoeuvred itself into a safe descent trajectory.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Europe\u2019s investment in human spaceflight<\/span><\/h3>\n
\"Orion\"<\/a>
Orion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ATV was conceived in 1987, when ideas for an international space station to succeed Russia\u2019s Mir complex were beginning to surface. In 1994, ESA and Russia discussed the possibility of using the vehicle for a new station. The decision to build it was taken in October 1995 and development began the following year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ATV programme was part of a barter arrangement between ESA and its international partners through which ESA pays its share of the running costs of the International Space Station by supplying vital equipment and systems.<\/span><\/p>\n

The spacecraft formed part of the Station\u2019s supply fleet, alongside Russia\u2019s Progress and Soyuz, Japan\u2019s HII Transfer Vehicle and America\u2019s Dragon and Cygnus commercial ferries.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The knowledge gained by ESA and European industry from designing, building and operating the complex ATV missions has been instrumental for ESA\u2019s participation in NASA\u2019s Orion spacecraft that will fly astronauts to the Moon and beyond.<\/span><\/p>\n

ESA\u2019s industrial partners are already building the European Service Module, ATV\u2019s technical successor, a critical module for Orion that will supply power, air and propulsion during the test flight in 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is with a feeling of pride that we look back at our accomplishments on the ATV programme,\u201d says Thomas Reiter, Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations .<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe look forward to applying the experience and knowledge we gained from designing, building and operating five ATV spacecraft with excellent results to future exploration missions using the successor European Service Module of the Orion vehicle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ESA\u2019s fifth automated cargo ferry completed its mission to the International Space Station today when it reentered the atmosphere and burned up safely over an uninhabited area of the southern Pacific Ocean. The end of the mission as the craft broke up as planned at about 18:04 GMT (19:04 CET) marks the end of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-space-news"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Last_ATV_liftoff_small.jpg",170,256,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Last_ATV_liftoff_small-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Last_ATV_liftoff_small.jpg",170,256,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Last_ATV_liftoff_small.jpg",170,256,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Last_ATV_liftoff_small.jpg",170,256,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Last_ATV_liftoff_small.jpg",170,256,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Last_ATV_liftoff_small.jpg",170,256,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Last_ATV_liftoff_small.jpg",170,256,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Last_ATV_liftoff_small.jpg",170,256,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Last_ATV_liftoff_small.jpg",170,256,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Last_ATV_liftoff_small.jpg",170,256,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Last_ATV_liftoff_small.jpg",170,256,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Last_ATV_liftoff_small.jpg",170,256,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Last_ATV_liftoff_small.jpg",43,65,false],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Last_ATV_liftoff_small.jpg",170,256,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Last_ATV_liftoff_small.jpg",64,96,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Last_ATV_liftoff_small.jpg",150,226,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Amrita Tuladhar"]},"category_info":"Space\/ AstroPhysics<\/a>","tag_info":"Space\/ AstroPhysics","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}