August 12, 2014: The European Space Agency’s fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), known as “Georges Lemaitre”, successfully reached the International Space Station (ISS) this morning after a nominal final approach. The ATV was launched into orbit on July 29, 2014 via an Ariane 5 rocket, and performed a fly-under of ISS on August 8th for a relative navigation sensor experiment before re-rendezvousing and returning for final approach. Docking with the ISS occurred today at 13:29 GMT. ATV will remain attached to ISS until February 2014 for resupply, reboost, and storage operations. Congratulations to the entire ESA team!
For more information about the ATV program, the four previous successful missions, or the status of the current one, please visit the ATV website: http://www.esa.int/esaMI/ATV/index.html
