Jules Verne Leaves Station, Progress Launches Wednesday

The Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) undocked from the International Space Station Friday at 5:29 p.m. EDT. The ATV has been docked to the aft port of the Zvezda service module for five months. During that time the Expedition 17 crew members unloaded cargo and stowed trash and discarded items inside the ATV.

Jules Verne was the first European Space Agency (ESA) cargo craft to visit the orbiting laboratory. The ATV will orbit the Earth for three more weeks after undocking then re-enter Earth’s atmosphere to burn up over the Pacific Ocean. ESA will conduct an imagery experiment with Jules Verne during its re-entry.

The Russian Progress 30 unpiloted cargo craft will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday and dock to the station two days later. The Progress 29 (P29) undocked from the Zarya module’s Earth-facing port on Sept. 1. P29 will deorbit on Monday, Sept. 8.