ESA ATV Albert Einstein attached to Ariane-5 Launcher

ATV Albert Einstein is lowered into position for integration with its Ariane 5 launcher inside the Spaceport’s Final Assembly Building as preparations near completion for next month’s mission. 

Credits: CNES/ESA/Arianespace/CSG Service optique

Arianespace marked one of the final steps in preparations for the next Ariane 5 launch as Europe's latest Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) was integrated atop the heavy-lift workhorse at the Spaceport.

This latest ATV - named after German-born physicist Albert Einstein - was lowered by an overhead crane onto its Ariane 5 inside the 90-meter-tall Final Assembly Building in French Guiana.

The payload fairing - which will complete the launcher build up - will be mounted closer to the launch date, allowing for loading of late cargo for the ATV's International Space Station servicing mission. This second Ariane 5 flight of 2013 is scheduled for a June 5 liftoff.

Integration of the ATV Albert Einstein for Ariane Flight VA213 is part of this month's activities on four parallel missions involving Arianespace's complete launcher family at the Spaceport - including the successful orbiting of three passengers by the lightweight Vega vehicle on May 7.

Flight VA213's ATV Albert Einstein will have a liftoff mass of 20,235 kg. - the heaviest payload ever lofted by any Ariane vehicle. In addition to resupply, the ATV will be used for maneuvering the International Space Station.

Built by an EADS Astrium-led industry team, ATV Albert Einstein will be the fourth such servicing vehicle launched by Arianespace for the European Space Agency.

Albert Einstein, Fourth ATV attached to Ariane 5 launcher

Photo of the Automated Transfer Vehicle being prepared to move to the Ariane 5 final assembly building last week. 

Credit: ESA /CNES /Arianespace /Photo Optique video du CSG /P Baudon

Europe's next Automated Transfer Vehicle, set for launch in June to the International Space Station, was hoisted atop an Ariane 5 launcher in French Guiana on Friday.

The robotic spacecraft's tanks are filled with propellant, water, air and pure oxygen.

Technicians will load the ATV's cargo module with fresh food and other last-minute items over next week before the Ariane 5's 17.7-foot-diameter payload fairing is added to enshroud the resupply freighter.

Christened Albert Einstein, the cargo craft is Europe's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle. When it blasts off June 5, the freighter will be the heaviest spacecraft ever launched by Europe - weighing in at an estimated 44,610 pounds, according to the European Space Agency.

It is also the largest vehicle to visit the space station since the retirement of the space shuttle. The ATV measures 32 feet long and 15 feet wide, and its four solar panels, arranged in a distinctive X-shaped patten, stretch out 73 feet tip-to-tip when extended in space.

Each ATV can haul three times more cargo than Russian Progress resupply spacecraft, and twice as much mass as SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship.

The massive spacecraft does not return cargo. At the end of each mission, it falls back into the atmosphere and burns up, disposing of trash in a safety zone over the Pacific Ocean.

The Albert Einstein spacecraft arrived last year at the European-run spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Timed to the second in order to reach the space station, the launch is set for June 5 at 2136:59 GMT (5:36:59 p.m. EDT; 6:36:59 p.m. Kourou time).

The launch time could change slightly based on further tracking of the space station's orbit, according to Alberto Novelli, ESA's ATV 4 mission manager.

The Ariane 5 ES rocket, missing its payload, rolled to the final assembly building in Kourou in March. 

Credit: ESA /CNES /Arianespace /Photo Optique video du CSG /S Martin

Docking with the space station's Zvezda service module is scheduled for June 15.

Managers decided on May 8 to continue preparations for launch June 5, but engineers are analyzing a potential problem with a navigation aid attached to the space station's docking port.

Officials are concerned a stuck antenna on a Russian Progress resupply craft may have damaged a laser reflector mounted on the aft end of the Zvezda module.

Reflectors are used in concert with the ATV's laser-guided navigation system to feed range, orientation and closing rate information to the ATV's computers, which control the spacecraft's automatic approach to the space station.

An array of 26 reflectors is positioned on the back end of the Zvezda module, beaming laser light back to sensors on the ATV, creating unique light patterns captured and recognized by the spacecraft's cameras.

The ATV carries a backup system using telegoniometers, similar to police radar guns, to emit laser light at a different wavelength up to 10,000 times per second.

Cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Roman Romanenko replaced one of the laser reflectors on a spacewalk April 19.

Engineers suspected contamination may have damaged the old reflector.

Novelli said the reflector suspected of damage from the Progress docking is in a different location and has a different use than the unit replaced during the April 19 spacewalk.

Until the Progress leaves the space station, there is no way to inspect the reflector without another spacewalk.

ISS Solar Reflections: The solar array attached to the Zvezda Service Module

Credit: NASA

The solar array attached to the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station reflects bright sunlight on April 3, 2013. 

One of the Expedition 35 crew members took the photo as part of a visual inspection, or External Survey, from International Space Station windows.

This inspection has been recently added to the crew's task list because of the risk of space debris and micro-meteorite damage.