ATV Heritage

Date: Fri, Jul 18, 2014 | 06:30 - 06:55 GMT | 08:30 - 08:55 CEST

Replay: Fri, Jul 18, 2014 | 15:00 - 15:55 GMT | 17:00 - 17:55 CEST

Type: ESA TV Exchange

Format: 16:9

The fifth and last Automated Transfer Vehicle, ATV-5 , is scheduled to lift off at 01h43 GMT on 25 July from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana atop an Ariane 5.

ATV is the most complex spacecraft ever built in Europe, combining fully automatic rendezvous capabilities with advanced features to ensure human safety in orbit and on the ground.

Since the US Space Shuttle retirement, ATV became the largest vehicle supplying the International Space Station.

Thanks to ATV Program ESA has demonstrated it was able to master challenging technologies and if this may be the last ATV, it is just the beginning of ESA’s space transportation adventure.

The ATV Program has helped generate key enabling technologies that will serve as a solid basis for future cooperative space transportation endeavours.

ATV remains the “smartest” automated vehicle ever used in space and its technical heritage is now key for future exploration missions.

This video comes back on ATV history and explains what is its heritage. 

• It includes interviews with Thomas Reiter, Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations, ESA and Alan Thirkettle, ESA Former ISS Programme Manager.

More information at: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/ATV

Preview and download:
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2014/07/ATV-5_Heritage

Script:
EbS97095.doc

Satellite Parameters: Eutelsat 9A at 9 degrees E, transponder 59, downlink frequency 11900.1 horizontally polarised, symbol rate 27,500 FEC 2/3.