Jules Verne during the thermal vacuum test at ESTEC

Under the most stringent conditions of simulated space environment, ATV engineers have successfully ordered the extension and the retraction of the probe (at the top) of the docking system of the spaceship. For 21 days in a row, inside the huge 2300 m³ Large Space Simulator (LSS), the 20-tonne Jules Verne ATV spacecraft has survived perfectly the toughest simulated conditions of space vacuum, freezing temperatures and burning sun radiation.