Final preparations for first human-rated spacecraft to be lauched from Europe's...(and odourless gases that can endanger th...)

Date:12/18/2007

and odourless gases that can endanger the cabin environment. Because no windows can be opened in space, the climate of the ISS and space vehicles are delicately checked and balanced. The air inside the pressurised module will be regularly analysed until launch by ESA, NASA and Institut Pasteur experts to be sure that cargo off-gassing will not alter the quality of the air brought into orbit and then mixed with the Space Station atmosphere.

Final steps

Implementing a work schedule of two eight-hour shifts and sometimes three shifts for six days a week, the ATV campaign, which started in early August, solved all technical issues. The two major pieces of the ATV, a pressurised payload unit and an avionics/propulsion unit, were carefully mated for the last time in one piece on 15 December in the Spaceport's giant integration hall. In this final launch configuration, the ATV is the size of a double-decker London bus.

As the year 2008 approaches, Jules Verne ATV will be transferred to the filling area in the restricted propellant zone of building S5-B. In the first days of February, the cargo vessel will be transferred to a different site for integration atop a special Ariane 5 launcher. The launch and maiden voyage to the International Space Station is scheduled on the first Ariane 5 flight of the new year in February 2008.

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Contact: Markus Bauer markus.bauer@esa.int 31-715-656-799 European Space Agency Source:Eurekalert

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