ESA's ATV Jule Verne re-entry as seen from DC-8, over southern PacificThe end of the first European Space Agency's planned series of "ATV's" (for Automated Transfer Vehicle) concludes a spectacularly successful mission many years in the making. ESA's "Jules Verne" re-entered Earth's atmosphere and what remained after that fiery encounter fell into the "graveyard" of spacecraft in the southeastern Pacific Ocean.
The versatility of the ESA's design was proven again and again, on this historic flight, and ESA continues its strong hints that the ATV design may become the work horse for Near Earth Orbital operations by the agency, and even be morphed to become a Human Transfer Vehicle (HTV) long before similar plans, by the Japanese Space Agency or Space-X in the Uniteds States, come to fruition.
The versatility of the ESA's design was proven again and again, on this historic flight, and ESA continues its strong hints that the ATV design may become the work horse for Near Earth Orbital operations by the agency, and even be morphed to become a Human Transfer Vehicle (HTV) long before similar plans, by the Japanese Space Agency or Space-X in the Uniteds States, come to fruition.
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