Editing Automated Transfer Vehicle (section)

== Missions ==
{{ATV missions}}

On 2 April 2012, the ESA announced that the ATV program that had paid their share of the ISS running costs until 2017 would end after the fifth ATV had been launched in 2014, at that point they had the required components to assemble the next two but beyond that avionics components utilised in the design were no longer being manufactured. A similar deal to provide their share of the ISS operating costs through hardware contribution to the Orion programme was mooted.<ref name="spaceflightnow" />

=== ''Jules Verne'' ===
{{Main|Jules Verne ATV}}
[[File:Jules verne at iss.jpg|thumb|Jules Verne ATV at ISS, 2008]]
The first flight of the ATV was delayed on multiple occasions prior to its launch on 9 March 2008. It was named ''[[Jules Verne]]'', in memory of the first science fiction writer of modern times. The ''Jules Verne'' carried two of the author's original handwritten manuscripts, to be received by the ISS crew as symbolic tokens of the success of the maiden flight.<ref>{{cite web |title=Europe's 'Jules Verne' spacecraft carries namesake's notes on maiden voyage |url=http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-030708a.html |publisher=collectSPACE.com |date=7 March 2008 |access-date=7 March 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080310203557/http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-030708a.html| archive-date= 10 March 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref>

The craft was launched into a {{convert|300|km|adj=on}} [[orbit]] atop an Ariane 5 rocket from the equatorial [[ELA-3]] launch site at the [[Guiana Space Centre]]. The ATV separated from the rocket, and following weeks of tests and orbit adjustments, successfully docked in the International Space Station at 14:45 UTC on 3 April 2008.{{Cn|date=July 2021}}

In the early morning hours of 29 September 2008, the Jules Verne burnt up on entering the atmosphere above an uninhabited section of the Pacific Ocean, southwest of Tahiti.{{Cn|date=July 2021}}

=== ''Johannes Kepler'' ===
{{Main|Johannes Kepler ATV}}

Launched on 17 February 2011,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://spaceflightnow.com/ariane/v200/110217launch/index.html|title=Europe dispatches Johannes Kepler to space station|date=17 February 2011|access-date=20 March 2011|author=Stephen Clark|publisher=Spaceflight Now}}</ref> Johannes Kepler was at the time the heaviest payload ever launched by the European Space Agency<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM5ZFY1LJG_index_0.html | title=Europe's ATV space ferry ready for launch | date=3 February 2011 | publisher=ESA | access-date=3 February 2011}}</ref> and carried 7000&nbsp;kg of cargo to the ISS.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/02/ariane-mission-launch-atv-2-space-station/|title=Ariane 5 launches ATV-2 for journey to the ISS|author=Chris Gebhardt|publisher=NASAspaceflight.com|date=15 February 2011|access-date=20 March 2011}}</ref> The first launch attempt on 15 February 2011 had been halted during the final countdown at four minutes from lift off due to an erroneous signal from one of the rocket's fuel tanks.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.universetoday.com/83331/atv-johannes-kepler-launch-to-space-station-delayed-to-wednesday/ |title=ATV 'Johannes Kepler' Launch to Space Station Delayed to Wednesday |publisher=Universetoday.com |date=15 February 2011 |access-date=4 September 2012}}</ref>

On 29 April 2011, the engines of the ATV were used to rotate the ISS in order for a Russian [[Progress (spacecraft)|Progress]] supply craft to dock with the station.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.esa.int/atv/2011/04/29/atv-rotates-the-iss-for-progress-docking/|title=ATV rotates the ISS for Progress docking|date=29 April 2011|access-date=3 May 2011}}</ref>

Due to the delayed launch of [[STS-134]] the mission of ''Johannes Kepler'' was extended, and it undocked from the ISS on 20 June 2011. It deorbited a day later on 21 June 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.esa.int/atv/2011/04/15/atv-undocking-set-for-20-june/|title=ATV undocking set for 20 June|date=15 April 2011|access-date=3 May 2011}}</ref>

=== ''Edoardo Amaldi'' ===
{{Main|Edoardo Amaldi ATV}}
[[File:ATV-3 approaches the International Space Station 7.jpg|thumb|ATV-3 ''Edoardo Amaldi'' approaches ISS on the dark side of the Earth with thrusters firing, 2012]]
The third ATV vehicle arrived in French Guiana in late August 2011 and was launched on 23 March 2012.<ref>{{cite web|last=Gutierrez-Marques|first=Pablo|title=Express mail to low earth orbit|url=http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00003168/|publisher=The Planetary Society|access-date=6 September 2011}}</ref> It docked with the International Space Station at 2231 GMT on 28 March 2012.{{Cn|date=July 2021}}

=== ''Albert Einstein'' ===
{{Main|Albert Einstein ATV}}
''Albert Einstein'' ATV was the heaviest spacecraft launched by Ariane at the time and lifted off at 21:52:11 GMT on 5 June 2013.<ref name="launched">{{cite web |publisher=ESA| title=Europe's heaviest cargo ship launched to Space Station | url= http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/ATV/Europe_s_heaviest_cargo_ship_launched_to_Space_Station | date=5 June 2013 | access-date=6 June 2013}}</ref> It docked with the ISS on 15 June 2013 at 14:07 GMT.<ref>{{cite web|title=Europe's largest spaceship reaches its orbital port|url=http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/ATV/Europe_s_largest_spaceship_reaches_its_orbital_port|publisher=ESA|date=14 June 2013|access-date=14 June 2013}}</ref>

=== ''Georges Lemaître'' ===
{{Main|Georges Lemaître ATV}}
Named after the Belgian astronomer [[Georges Lemaître]]. The spacecraft launched during the night of 29 July (23:44 GMT, 20:44 local time, 30 July 01:44 CEST), 2014, on a mission to supply the International Space Station (ISS) with propellant, water, air, and dry cargo, and an artwork by artist [[Katie Paterson]]. It docked with the ISS on 12 August at 13:30 GMT.<ref>{{cite web |title=ATV completes final automated docking |url=http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/ATV_completes_final_automated_docking |publisher= ESA|access-date=1 September 2014}}</ref> ''Georges Lemaître'' had a total mass of almost {{convert|20.3|t}}, a mass that exceeded that of all previously launched ATVs. This also made it the heaviest spacecraft ever launched by an Ariane rocket.<ref>{{cite web
 |title=Airbus Defence and Space prepares launch of ATV-5 "Georges Lemaître" 
 |url=http://airbusdefenceandspace.com/airbus-defence-and-space-prepares-launch-of-atv-5-georges-lemai%CC%82tre/ 
 |publisher=Airbus Defence and Space 
 |access-date=1 September 2014 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140919015040/http://airbusdefenceandspace.com/airbus-defence-and-space-prepares-launch-of-atv-5-georges-lemai%CC%82tre/ 
 |archive-date=19 September 2014 
}}</ref>