ATV Re-entry Video

ATV's initial flash as it broke apart in Earth's atmosphere. Credit: ESA

A spectacular video recorded on September 29 shows the Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle (A T V)plunging through Earth’s atmosphere and breaking apart. It doesn’t take long for the action to start — about 7 seconds into the video, there’s a bright flash — which portrays the demise of the first and very successful space station freighter ship built by the European Space Agency. Two observation teams were chasing Jules Verne, in two separate aircraft, taking video and images. This video shows the spacecraft breaking up over the Pacific Ocean beginning at about 15:36 CEST. Below are more images, too:

Jules Verne launched on March 9, 2008 on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The ATV delivered 6 tonnes of cargo to the International Space Station, and remained docked to the ISS for five months. During docked operations, it also performed a maneuver to help the ISS avoid a piece of space debris. For more info on Jules Verne see some of our past articles here (yesterday’s article about the deorbit), or here, describing about how great it was, and here, when it pulled into port at the ISS.

Here’s a few images of the breakup, and farther below is an image of the interior of Jules Verne as it was docked to the ISS, and finally, an image of the ATV as it undocked from the station on Sept. 5. Au revoir Jules Verne!
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A shower of debris results as the ATV continues its plunge through the atmosphere. Credit: ESA

Expedition 16 and 17 crewmembers inside Jules Verne ATV. Jules Verne is Europe's first Automated Transfer Vehicle. Jules Verne docked with the International Space Station on 3 April 2008. Credit: NASA

ATV after it undocked from the ISS on Sept. 5. Credit: NASA

Source: ESA

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/