Second Try's the Charm for ATV
UPDATE: The second upper stage firing was successful and it has now separated from the ATV. The spacecraft will take one week to reach the ISS.
ORIGINAL STORY: The European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) cargo spacecraft was launched successfully by an Ariane V this afternoon. The launch was aborted yesterday. Everything appears well at the moment. The upper stage engine is due to be restarted in about 20 minutes to circularize the orbit.
The ATV is carrying about 7 tons of equipment and supplies for the International Space Station (ISS). The spacecraft weighs 20 tons overall and is the heaviest payload lofted by an Ariane launch vehicle. This is the 200th Ariane launch since the first launch of Ariane 1 in 1979. This second ATV mission is named Johannes Kepler. The first was called Jules Verne. The spacecraft is not designed to survive reentry and will burn up in the atmosphere at the end of its resupply mission.
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