Categories: Space FlightSpace Station

ATV-4 ‘Einstein’ Says Goodbye to the Space Station

The current Expedition 37 crew took this picture inside the ATV-4 before undocking as a tribute to Albert Einstein. Credit: ESA/Luca Parmitano.

The Expedition 37 crew onboard the International Space Station closed the hatch and said goodbye to the ATV-4 “Albert Einstein” cargo ship early this morning, Oct. 28. Europe’s 4th Automated Transfer Vehicle undocked at 08:55 UTC (4:55 a.m. EDT). The cargo carrier was filled with trash and it will be deorbited on Nov. 2 for a destructive entry back into the Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. ATV-4 has been at the ISS since June 15, delivering more than 7 tons of food, fuel and supplies. Its departure helps prepare for more action at the ISS: the current Soyuz spacecraft docked at the station will be moved to a different location so that a new Soyuz can dock with three new crew members. The Soyuz TMA-11M is scheduled to launch on Nov. 6, 2013 with the Expedition 38/39 crew of Rick Mastracchio, Koichi Wakata, Mikhail Tyurin.

Some images of the undocking, below:

This photo was taken from Japan shorty after the undocking:

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??(10/28)19:45~???1???????????? #ATV4 ??????????????? #ISS (?????????)? f105mm ??2.5??2???? #mysky pic.twitter.com/gnQ5ny2Gjp

— JR5EPQ”SHO” (@JR5EPQ) October 28, 2013

ATV-4 backing away from the ISS. Credit: NASA TV.

The ATV-4 is just visible as it passes into Earth’s terminator. Credit: NASA TV.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/