The maiden flight of an unmanned European cargo ship is just one of several closely-scheduled arrivals and departures coming up for the International Space Station (ISS).
The European Space Agency's (ESA) first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is set to launch toward the space station as early as Feb. 22 between a pair of U.S. shuttle missions hauling new modules to the orbital laboratory.
"We've been developing this vehicle for more than 12 years now and we're within touching distance of getting it on orbit," said Alan Thirkettle, the ESA's station program manager, in a Thursday briefing. "We're very excited."
But before the new spacecraft lifts off, astronauts aboard the space station must cast off a spent Russian cargo ship on Feb. 4, then welcome fresh one on Feb. 7 — the same day NASA's shuttle Atlantis is due to haul the ESA's Columbus lab toward the ISS.
The ATV, christened Jules Verne, has a narrow window to dock at the ISS between Atlantis' 11-day mission and the planned March flight of the shuttle Endeavour to deliver the first segment of Japan's Kibo laboratory.
"Things really start to stack up," said NASA's station program manager Mike Suffredini, adding that another Russian spacecraft and a shuttle hauling the centerpiece of Kibo are also due at the outpost in April. "In fact, we've been talking to the crews about being some sort of air traffic controllers; we're just going to have so many vehicles on or around ISS."
Suffredini said that if the ESA's Jules Verne ATV performs flawlessly during its two-week shakedown, NASA may delay Endeavour's planned March 11 launch to allow the cargo ship to dock at the ISS on March 15.
The Jules Verne ATV is the first of five ESA cargo ships built to launch fresh supplies to the ISS as payment for European experiments, hardware and astronaut slots on future crews.
Source:Xinhua/Agencies
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