Photos: Europe’s ATV Johannes Kepler Integrated onto Ariane 5

This photo series highlights the integration process for ATV Johannes Kepler inside the Ariane 5’s Final Assembly Building. At left, the 10-meter-tall cargo spacecraft is raised from the facility’s payload preparation area by an overhead crane. In the three photos below, the ATV is lowered into position atop its Ariane 5 ES launcher.

The second Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to be orbited by Arianespace has been installed on its Ariane 5 launch vehicle, keeping preparations on track for a February 15 mission to service the International Space Station.

With a total mass of over 20 metric tons, this flight’s payload will be the largest ever orbited by Ariane 5. The cargo spacecraft is named after German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler, and is the first operational ATV. It follows the qualification flight of ATV Jules Verne, launched by an Ariane 5 in March 2008.

Developed for the European Space Agency, the ATV Johannes Kepler has been loaded with more than 7 metric tons of payload – including 4,534 kg. of propellant to be used in International Space Station’s attitude control system, and for the crewed facility’s altitude re-boost operations. Also carried by the ATV is nearly 1,600 kg. of dry cargo and 100 kg. of oxygen to be used aboard the station.

The upcoming launch from Europe’s Spaceport will utilize an Ariane 5 ES version of Arianespace’s heavy-lift workhorse, with its liftoff scheduled for 7:08 p.m. local time in French Guiana. During a mission lasting just over one hour – which includes two burns of the launcher’s EPS storable propellant upper stage – the ATV Johannes Kepler will be deployed into a 260-km. circular orbit. This flight will mark the historic 200th flight of an Ariane family vehicle, continuing a legacy that began with the maiden launch of an Ariane 1 version in December 1979.

Launch window for Ariane Flight 200

10:08 p.m. on February 15, 2011 Universal time (GMT)
11:08 p.m. on February 15, 2011 Paris, France
4:08 p.m. on February 15, 2011 Houston, Texas, USA
7:08 p.m. on February 15, 2011 Kourou, French Guiana
1:08 a.m. on February 16, 2011 Moscow, Russia

See the Arianespace launch kit for further details on this mission.