It was night Europe when, from the spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana, the space cargo ship ATV-4 (Automated Transfer Vehicle 4), named Albert Einstein after the great scientist, was launched on an Ariane 5 rocket. With a total weight of 20,190 kg, it’s the heaviest cargo spacecraft ever launched by ESA to the International Space Station, about 150 kg heavier than the previous ATV, the Edoardo Amaldi.

The ATV-4 carries a significant amount of cargo consisting of propellant, supplies such as oxygen, water and food and equipment that includes scientific experiments and miscellaneous spare parts for the International Space Station. Part of the cargo is carried on behalf of NASA and the Japanese space agency.

The propellant will be used for the periodic maneuvers that raise the orbit of the Station, which tends to fall down because of the friction caused by the atmosphere, which is extremely tenuous but still existing in its orbit. In case some space debris on a collision course is spotted, obviously the ATV-4 can perform the emergency maneuvers necessary to avoid it.

With its 10 m of length and 4.5 m in diameter, the ATV-4 will be an additional habitat module in the more than four months it will pass docked to the International Space Station. It’s about three times larger than the Russian Progress cargo spacecraft which periodically carries cargo to the Station.

The ATV-4 will take approximately 10 days to reach the International Space Station. It may seem like a very long time considering that lately some Soyuz and Progress spacecraft took only 6 hours to make the same journey. The ATVs use a trajectory that requires the minimum use of propellant and the maximum safety.

A series of approach maneuvers will bring the ATV-4 towards the International Space Station and at the end the sophisticated automatic docking system will handle the final phase of the journey. This is possible basically because there’s no rush to get the spacecraft to its destination, on the contrary it’s best for the astronauts transported with the Soyuz to stay as little as possible in a space “tin can”. The Progress cargo spacecraft were used to test that fast track.

According to the schedule, at the end of October 2013 the ATV-4, loaded with waste and faulty or obsolete hardware, will undock from the International Space Station and will disintegrate in Earth’s atmosphere.

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