ATV cargo capacity   ATV Johannes Kepler closing in on the International Space Station, 24 February 2011   In anticipation of the vessel’s upcoming launch, scheduled for 15 February, ATV Johannes Kepler is now being ‘tanked up’ with fuel at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou. Of all the vessels that can deliver cargo to the ISS, ATV can deliver the largest quantity of fuel, up to 5.5 tonnes maximum. With this fuel, ATV can regularly reboost the Station’s orbit, which suffers a natural decay of 50 to 100 m each day (what goes up must come down – unless reboosted by ATV – Ed.) due to drag caused by traces of atmosphere at the ISS orbital altitude (roughly, 400km ATV-2 Johannes Kepler     Up to about 430 kg of cargo, packed in 28 bags, were lowered into cargo compartment of Johannes Kepler on 29 January 2011 via a manually operated winch with the operator attached in a harness at the lower end of the winch cable. Last update: 16 June 2011