Welcome home, Jules Verne

Following a final deorbit burn at 14:58 CEST [...] the ATV entered the upper atmosphere at an altitude of 120 km at 15:31 CEST. It broke up at an altitude of 75 km with the remaining fragments falling into the Pacific some 12 minutes later.

The ATV has proved what a key ISS logistics vehicle it is. Following its 9 March launch on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, the ATV delivered 6 tonnes of cargo to the International Space Station, to which it remained docked for five months. This included ISS reboost and refuelling propellants, water, oxygen and 1.3 tonnes of dry cargo including food, clothing, spares and other items. During its mission, the ATV displayed the full range of its capabilities, including automatic rendezvous & docking, four ISS reboosts to a higher orbital altitude to offset atmospheric drag, ISS attitude control, performing a collision-avoidance manoeuvre when fragments of an old satellite came within the Station’s vicinity.

The final minutes of ATV were more glorious than we had expected. A big piece continued until deep in the atmosphere and created a bright green fireball with a wake of hundreds of orange fragments. Both aircraft were directed to give us a prime view of the event. The re-entry appeared to be nominal, with the main break-up event close to the predicted time, kudos to ATV control center! The videos are spectacular. [...] The main break-up event caused a bright flare with a puff of matter left behind. When ATV finally passed the DC8 aircraft [which recorded the re-entry], the fragment train was impressive. [...] This one is for eternity. A great homage to Jules Verne.