Watch the ATV Launch Live

By Nancy Atkinson - March 23, 2012 at 4:08 AM UTC | Missions

UPDATE:

The ATV launched successfully and is now on its way to the ISS, and we've switched out the live feed with a video replay. It will take about 6 days for the ATV 3 to rendezvous with the ISS and docking will take place on March 28th at 10:34PM UTC (06:34PM EDT).

The new ATV Edoardo Amaldi launched on its mission to the International Space Station early March 23/late March 22 at 4:34 UTC, (12:34 am EDT on the 24th). Europe's third Automated Transfer Vehicle was launched on an Ariane 5 from the Spaceport in French Guiana to bring 7 tons of supplies to the space station.

Below is a short video shows the latest ATV's construction all the way to the pre-launch preparations.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com