Crew opens hatch to Jules Verne ATV
The hatch to the newly arrived Jules Verne ATV was opened for the first time by the International Space Station crew earlier today. Shortly after hatch opening the crew briefly entered ATV to place an air filtering device.
The so-called ‘air scrubber’ will be left to run for 8 hours to remove any unwanted gasses or small particles of debris that may be floating around. Once the air inside the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is clean, the crew will fully enter the spacecraft’s cargo section for the first time on Saturday.
Over the next weeks the crew will remove the 1150 kg of dry cargo delivered by Jules Verne – including fuel, clothes, equipment as well as two original manuscripts handwritten by Jules Verne and a XIXth century illustrated edition of his novel “From the Earth to the Moon”. In addition the crew will pump 856 kg of propellant, 270 kg of drinking water and 21 kg of oxygen into Zvezda’s tanks.
ATV also brings a special gift – a playlist of music selected by Norwegian teenager Therese Miljeteig, the winner of ESA’s ATV competition to suggest 10 songs to inspire the astronauts.
Jules Verne will remain attached to as a 48 m3 pressurised and integral part of the complex until early August. When required, ATV will boost the Station’s orbit to overcome the effects of residual atmospheric drag. At the end of its mission, Jules Verne ATV will burn up in a controlled reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere, and in the process, it will eliminate 6.3 tonnes of waste material no longer needed on the Station and stored over 4 months in the ATV.
