ESA Ariane-5 Launch preparations: Mission ATV - Albert Einstein

Ariane 5’s cryogenic core stage is suspended over the launch table in the Spaceport’s Launcher Integration Building. Credits: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Optique Video du CSG

The launcher for Arianespace’s fourth flight with Automated Transfer Vehicle 4 (ATV-4), Albert Einstein, is rapidly taking shape at the Spaceport, preparing it for liftoff in the spring from French Guiana with the International Space Station’s latest resupply spacecraft.

During activity this month in the Spaceport’s Launcher Integration Building, the heavy-lift vehicle’s core cryogenic stage was suspended over the mobile launch table, followed by positioning of its two solid propellant boosters.

The launcher’s EPS storable propellant upper stage will then be installed, readying the Ariane 5 for transfer to the Final Assembly Building, where the latest ATV (named after Albert Einstein) is to be mated.