When the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) comes into service next year it will act as a supply ship for the International Space Station, carrying up to nine tonnes of provisions, equipment and propellant. The ATV will further be used to reboost the ISS to a higher orbiting altitude and remove waste and material that is no longer needed from the Station at the end of its mission when it leaves the Station and takes a planned self-destructive journey into EarthÍs atmosphere.
The first ATV, named after Jules Verne, is now undergoing its final assembly and test campaign at ESA's Technical centre ESTEC in the Netherlands, before being shipped to the European launch site at Kourou in French Guiana for its launch on Ariane 5. As of Monday 18 October, testing of the fully assembled ATV will start. Today's Exchange Programme includes images of the ATV recorded at ESTEC, and soundbites by ESA astronaut Jean-Fran?ois Clervoy recorded at the ATV ""flight simulator"" in France. There is also extensive graphics included.

ATV Getting Ready for Launch
00:40
While this is certainly not the fastest means of transportation, it was,
considering Dutch population density, the easiest way to transport a huge
container with ESAs most biggest spacecraft ever across the Netherlands.
After a long journey by air, water and land the ATV, the Automated Transfer
Vehicle, is now at ESAs Technical Centre ESTEC in Noordwijk, for final
assembly and rigorous testing before launch.
01:11
It is also called the space lorry and is the first of seven European-built supply
ships for the International Space Station. Astronauts on board the ISS are
depending on the supply of all sorts of different material to be able to work.
They need of course air, food and water but also spare parts, propellant and
experimental equipment to work efficiently.
01:34
ESA astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy is a senior member of the ATV team.
We met him on the site of EADS Les Mureaux near Paris. Here ATV elements
and software are tested again and again. All t