Cargo carrier begins flight to International Space Station

ESA’s second automated transfer vehicle (ATV) will deliver food, dry cargo, propellants and gases, as well as the Geoflow II experiment, which scientists will use to study processes in the Earth’s mantle.

The space-cargo carrier separated from the upper stage of the Ariane launcher at an altitude of 260km and is approaching the ISS autonomously using GPS, radar and optical sensors.

The ATV-2 will then dock automatically with the Russian service module Zvezda, where it will remain for at least three months. On 4 June at the earliest, the transporter will undock from the ISS and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere during a controlled re-entry.

‘This launch takes place in a crowded and changing [environment] for the ISS access, with HTV, Progress, ATV and the Shuttle coming and going,’ said Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA’s director general.

Weighing 20,100kg, Johannes Kepler is the heaviest payload to be carried by a member of the Ariane family.

It follows the successful mission in 2008 of the Jules Verne ATV-1, which demonstrated the reliability of the new technology.