ESA's third Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo ferry, Edoardo Amaldi, completed the final part of its highly successful six-month servicing mission to the International Space Station by reentering the atmosphere today and burning up as planned over an uninhabited area of the southern Pacific ocean. Read more
The European Space Agency's "Edoardo Amaldi" Automated Transfer Vehicle-3 cargo ship undocked from the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module at the International Space Station on Sept. 28 and backed away to a safe distance from the complex for its deorbit and plunge back into the Earth's atmosphere. Having arrived at the complex in late March to deliver several tons of supplies and experiments for the station residents and now loaded with trash, the resupply craft will be commanded to deorbit Oct. 2 for a destructive reentry over the Pacific Ocean.
ESA's ATV-3 Mission Manager, Massimo Cislaghi, has just confirmed: today's debris avoidance manoeuvre is cancelled. Further analysis during the night showed that the debris object, a piece of an old Indian launch vehicle, will pass by the ISS at a safe miss distance. Read more
The undocking of ATV-3 from the International Space Station late last night was postponed due to an incorrect command. During operations ATV-3 performed perfectly in line with its pre-defined measures. Read more