Updates ISS ATV-4 "Albert Einstein" & ATV-5 "Georges Lemaître" flights

[Cosmic Penguin]

ATV-5 flew to within 7 km of the ISS on August 8 to test out new cameras and radar systems for future European spacecraft:

Docking is still 1.5 days away....

 

[Urwumpe]

Had observed it yesterday evening flying ahead of the ISS.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Fifth and last "X-fighter" is on short final to the ISS! Docking in just over 1 and a half hours from now. :thumbup:

 

[Notebook]

Live coverage now:

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/ATV/Watch_ATV-5_docking

N.

 

[Fabri91]

Livestream (in French) with the possibility to choose between 5 cameras (KURS, control centers and live animation):

 

[orb]

 

[boogabooga]

Busy week for ESA.

 

[orb]

ESA:

NASA:

 

[HAL9001]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha9Gx-6NQm4"]ATV5 ISS docking in 10x timelapse - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Will the astronauts miss the additional "sleeping closet" when ATV-5 goes away next January? :hmm:

 

[Yoda]

I've always said its a terrible waste not to leave one of these attached to the ISS for extra storage space................
Would be so easy to just leave one attached instead of burning them up after just a few months.
I have about 3 of the attached to my space station..........( but I guess that's not real life)

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

End of another era. Goodbye ATV!

ATV-5 will undock from the ISS at 13:44 UTC tomorrow, ending the 2 decade long program of European logistics transportation to the station. Unfortunately due to problems with one of its power systems, the originally planned "shallow re-entry" experiment has been canceled and it will be de-orbited on Sunday.

Follow updates on http://blogs.esa.int/atv for details.

 

[C3PO]

I'll miss the good ol' ESA X-fighter. Let's hope that the vacated slot will be filled by something even better.

ATV was my first attempt at 3D modelling.

At least it can still fly in Orbiter.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

I'll sign off this thread and say goodbye with this amazing photo taken by Terry Virts from the ISS:

Terry W. Virts @AstroTerry
Final view #ATV5 Georges Lemaître entering Earth's atmosphere. It was surprising to see how high the smoke trail was.

 

[ISProgram]

The end of a era. But at least ATV's legacy will live on as Orion's ESM.