The fierce, suicidal plunge of the International Space Station’s supply ship, the human rated Jules Verne, brings to an end Europe’s historic space program. This spacecraft was slowed down by 224 mph with the help of slowing down of the two engines on Monday morning lowering its orbit into the upper part of the earth’s atmosphere.
This ship weighs 30,000 pounds. It made contact with the outer orbit of the earth’s atmosphere above the uninhabited part of the South Pacific at 1331 GMT. According to the European Space Agency head Bob Chesson, there was no safety threat due to the re entry as the trajectory was pin point and the break up behavior was close to existing models.
The solar arrays of the ship numbering four sheared away from the spacecraft at a height of 100 kilometers according as shown by the telemetry, Chesson said. Till the vehicle was at an altitude of 80 meters, engineers were able to receive data from the ATV control center located in Toulouse, France. Just after that, an altitude of 75 meters saw the breaking apart of the vehicle as indicated by the telemetry said Chesson.
Liquid waste of around 582 pounds and dry cargo weighing 1800 pounds were burnt up along with the spacecraft. John Ellwood, the project manager for ATV commended everyone who was a part of this flawless project.
This spacecraft which was named after the famous science fiction writer Jules Verne was launched on March 9th from the South America based Guiana Space Center.
