The Georges Lemaître ATV, or Automated Transfer Vehicle 5 (ATV-5), an unmanned cargo resupply spacecraft built by the European Space Agency (ESA), unlocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on Valentine's Day. ATV-5, the last ESA space truck, burned down safely over the Pacific Ocean.
The ATV-5 was named after was named after Belgian astronomer Georges Lemaître. The spacecraft was the fifth and the last of the ATV missions, which broke from the ISS at around 18:04 GMT. The ATV program has served the ISS since 2008 and has delivered over 31,500 kilograms of supplies since its debut.
The ATV-5 was launched from the Earth on July 29, 2014 and docked to the ISS on Aug. 12, 2014. The space truck transported dry cargo, water, oxygen and more to the ISS, which weighed a few tons. On its way back, the space truck was packed with astronaut trash and burned down at an uninhabitable region of the southern Pacific Ocean.
The ATV space vehicle is said to be one of the most complex spacecrafts ever built in Europe. The vehicle proved mastering by the ESA on automated docking, which is a technology considered vital for future space explorations.
ESA reveals that the agency as well as the European industry has gained a lot of knowledge by designing, building and operating the ATV missions. This knowledge is very important in the agency participation in the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Orion spacecraft, which is expected to take astronauts to the Moon and other deep space missions.
Industrial partners of ESA are already in the process of building European Service Module, which is ATV's successor. The module will play a critical role in providing propulsion, air and power supply during the test flights planned for 2017.
Thomas Reiter, Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations, says that the ATV program is a great success, which lays the base for other future missions.
"We look forward to applying the experience and knowledge we gained from designing, building and operating five ATV spacecraft with excellent results to future exploration missions using the successor European Service Module of the Orion vehicle," says Reiter.
Check out the undocking video of the ATV-5 from the ISS.
