Europe’s largest spacecraft, the supply ferry Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), could carry over 1600 items to the International Space Station, but what type of cargo did they bring?

ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle blog editor Julien Harrod gives a short overview of the types of cargo ATVs carried to space.

The knowledge gained by ESA and European industry from designing, building and operating the complex ATV missions is now being applied to NASA’s Orion spacecraft that will fly astronauts to the Moon and beyond. ESA’s industrial partners are building the European Service Module, ATV’s technical successor for Orion to supply power, air and propulsion during its test flight in 2017.