Space mission ends with a bang for European cargo ship

Good bye #ATV5! Arrivederci ATV5!

That was the send-off tweet from European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti as an unmanned automated transfer vehicle (ATV) cargo ship ended its mission to the International Space Station with a bang over the weekend. The vehicle, named Georges Lematre, reentered the Earth's atmosphere and burned up safely over an uninhabited area of the southern Pacific Ocean.

ESA's supply and support ferry ATV Georges Lematre approaches the International Space Station for docking. The fifth and last Automated Transfer Vehicle docked with the weightless research centre on 12 August 2014. ATV-5 delivered 6.6 tonnes of supplies,including food, water, fuel, clothes and experiment hardware.

Roscosmos-O. Artemyev

A time-lapse video using photos from NASA astronaut Terry Virts shows the ATV detaching from the space station and disappearing into the distance. A darkened Earth rotates in the background, illuminated by the lights from distant cities.

The mission, the fifth by an ATV, also marks the end of the automated transfer vehicle program. Since its debut in 2008, the ferries have been crucial to resupplying the International Space Station, delivering five payloads of 31,500 kilograms (more than 69,400 pounds). They also helped boost the station's orbit to move it out of the way of space debris.

ESA's supply and support ferry ATV Georges Lematre approaches the International Space Station for docking. The fifth and last Automated Transfer Vehicle docked with the weightless research centre on 12 August 2014. ATV-5 delivered 6.6 tonnes of supplies,including food, water, fuel, clothes and experiment hardware.

Roscosmos-O. Artemyev

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Space mission ends with a bang for European cargo ship