In the days when NASA's last three Apollo missions were scrapped, if you don't count Apollo-Soyuz as "Apollo 18," the agency had ambitions for a more glorious future. They were keen to maintain their booster capacity, and grasped at various straws.Long-term plans offered by Congress and the Nixon administration for a "cheaper" Space Shuttle, built around a Space Telescope were cause for much grumbling. Among the concepts floated in hope of selling Congress on maintaining the Saturn booster plant and personnel was an idea very much like the European Space Agency's multi-purpose Automated Transfer Vehicle.
The first of its kind docked with the International Space Station right after the departure of Atlantis in early April. The Jules Verne will still be there when Discovery arrives once again next week.
Launched using the Arianne V heavy booster, ESA has a multitude of multi-purpose concepts in mind for the deceptively simple looking design, including a manned Crew Exploration Vehicle. Nancy Atkinson in Universe Today writes about the ESA's unveiling of what a manned-ATV's interior might look like HERE.
ESA's "evolution scenarios" are somewhat detailed HERE.
