Europe successfully launched the ATV-3 transport ship to ISS

On March 23, the European ATV-3 spacecraft successfully launched into orbit in an automatic mode, carrying 4.3 tons of food, fuel and other cargo to the crew. on the International Space Station (ISS).

The launch of the AVT-3 spacecraft was carried out from the Kourou space airport in French Guiana with the Arian-5 heavy rocket.

The launch had been postponed twice before regarding technical issues. ATV-3 ship named after the famous physicist Italian Edoardo Amaldi, equipped with high-precision positioning device, will proceed to assemble with the Russian "Star" module on ISS in 2 days 28-29 / 3.

After completing the mission, the ship will carry waste and automatically separate it from ISS, which will then burn completely when flying into the Earth's atmosphere.

This is the third spacecraft in the AVT series built by the European Space Agency (EKA). From now until 2014, EKA plans to launch ISS with two more spacecraft in the AVT series.