Have you ever seen aspacelaunch fromorbit ?
Check out the salient launching photo of theJohannes KeplerATV streaking skywards atop an Ariane 5 rocket as capture by astronaut Paolo Nespoli from his unparalleled vantage point attend out the window aboard theInternational Space Station(ISS ) , in arena some 350 kmabove Earth .
The launch photo shew the risingexhausttrail from the skyrocket just minutes after blast off of the Ariane relay station on Feb. 16 from the ESA skyrocket base in Kourou , French Guiana , South America . The rocket was still on a perpendicular ascenttrajectoryto orbit .
The photo vividly illustrates the maturity of the European space effort since the launch base , Ariane promoter garden rocket , Kepler freight and astronaut Nespoli all stem from Europe and are crucial to the next life of the ISS .
Ariane 5 rocket at the Launch launchpad at Europe ’s Spaceport in Kourou , French Guiana with Johannes Kepler ATV Kepler is set to dock at the ISS on Feb. 24 and an on time arrival is all-important because of an impending orbital traffic jam .
Space Shuttle Discovery is due to relate up with the ISS just six hous afterKeplerif the orbiter launches accord to docket on Feb. 22 .
Everything is tokenish with Kepler ’s ballistic capsule systems and orbital operation at this time say European Space Agency ( ESA ) officials , including the deployment of ATV ’s four largesolarwings .
The ATV , or Automated Transfer Vehicle , is a European build resupply vas design to transport of the essence consignment and supply to the ISS . It is Europe ’s donation to stock up the ISS .
Kepleris carrying more than seven metric tons of supplies and shipment for the ISS and will be used to reboost the outstation to a higher orbit during its planned four calendar month mission .
“ ATV is a truly European ballistic capsule . Flying it requires experts from ESA , partner agencies and industry across half a XII countries , ” said ESA ’s Bob Chesson , Head of the Human Spaceflight Operations Department .
“ Getting it built , into orbit and operating it in trajectory to dockage requires a lot of severe work and dedication from 100 of citizenry . ”
The ATV is distinguish afterJohannes Kepler(1571 - 1630 ) , the German astronomer and mathematician who is best recognize for discovering the laws of planetary gesture . NASA also named its powerful young planet hunting space telescope afterKepler , which recently discovered the first ground sized planets orbiting inside the inhabitable zone .
After the shuttle is forcibly retire later this year in 2011 , the very survival and continued use of goods and services of the ISS will be completely dependent on a unfaltering train of cargo and consignment lofted by unmanned resupply vas include the ATV from Europe , HTVfromJapan , Progress from Russia and commercial carriers such as SpaceX and Orbital Sciences .
Top Photo : This noteworthy pic was assume by ESA spaceman Paolo Nespoli from the ISS on 20 December 2024 , just minutes after ATV Johannes Kepler lift off on panel an Ariane 5 from Kourou at 22:50 UTC . It shows the resurrect exhaust trail of Ariane , still in its initial upright trajectory . The lead can be see to it as a slender run framed just beneath the Station ’s outside manipulator sleeve . credit : ESA/ NASA .
This post originally appear onUniverse Today .
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