Edoardo Amaldi ATV

The Edoardo Amaldi ATV, or Automated Transfer Vehicle 003 (ATV-003), was a European uncrewed cargo spacecraft, named after the 20th-century Italian physicist Edoardo Amaldi. The spacecraft was launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) on 23 March 2012, on a mission to supply the International Space Station (ISS) with propellant, water, oxygen, and dry cargo.

Edoardo Amaldi was the third ATV to be built, following Jules Verne (2008) and Johannes Kepler (2011). At the time of its launch, it was the world's largest single operational spacecraft, with a total launch mass of over ."ATV-3 Cargo: the world's largest spacecraft". ESA Online Videos. 2 March 2012. Retrieved 31 March 2012. The ATV completed its mission successfully, and was deorbited on 3 October 2012, burning up in the Earth's atmosphere as planned.

Mission payload Cargo Mass ISSreboost/attitudecontrol propellant ISSrefuel propellant Oxygen gas Water Dry cargo(food, clothes, equipment) Total Source: ESA"Information Kit: ATV Edoardo Amaldi" (PDF). ESA. 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2012.

Amaldi letter In addition to its primary cargo, the ATV carried a reproduction of a letter written by its namesake, Edoardo Amaldi, in 1958. This document, whose original is of significant historical value, reflects Amaldi's vision of a peaceful and non-military European space organisation – a blueprint for the real-life ESA.

Mission summary

Launch Edoardo Amaldi arrived at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, in August 2011 to undergo pre-launch preparations. The spacecraft was mounted on an Ariane 5ES rocket, and was launched on 23 March 2012 by Arianespace on behalf of the European Space Agency. Docking The ATV docked with the ISS on 28 March 2012, five days after its launch. In addition to resupplying the Expedition 30 astronauts, Edoardo Amaldi used its thrusters to boost the station's altitude."ISS orbit boosted by ATV Edoardo Amaldi". ESA. 2 April 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2012.

Deorbit The ATV was initially planned to undock from the ISS on 25 September 2012."Europe's third cargo vehicle docks with the Space Station". ESA – ATV. 29 March 2012. Retrieved 31 March 2012."Fun stuff – Edoardo Amaldi". ESA – ATV. August 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2012. However, a command program error during the undocking procedure delayed the release,"ATV undocking postponed". ESA – ATV. 26 September 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2012. and Edoardo Amaldi did not actually undock until 21:44 GMT on 28 September."ATV-3 undocks from ISS". ESA – ATV. 28 September 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012. The spacecraft finally deorbited and performed a destructive re-entry over the Pacific Ocean on 3 October 2012, taking with it a payload of station waste.

ATV missions

Edoardo Amaldi ATV

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