Following its rescheduling from 9 March to Friday 23 March of the Ariane 5 launch to deliver the third Automated Transfer Vehicle robotic supply ship to the International Space Station, the European Space Agency has set the night of 28-29 March for the ship’s docking with the Station’s Russian Zvezda module.
The precise time will be known after launch, which is set for 04:31 GMT (05:31 CET) from ESA’s Kourou, French Guiana spaceport.
The cause of the launch delay, announced on 2 March, has not been detailed but has to do with further checks required on the ATV rather than the Ariane 5 rocket.According to launch operator Arianespace, “a routine inspection concluded that additional measures were required to maximize ATV Edoardo Amaldi’s launch readiness”.
The two previous ATV launches in February 2011 and March 2008, also from French Guiana, were successful.
