ATV orbital rehearsals
ESA TV Exchanges
The inaugural mission of Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle, the ATV, culminates next week. The ""Jules Verne"" is due to have its first docking attempt with the International Space Station on 3rd April. But before it reaches its target, the ATV will be rehearsing its automatic rendez-vous systems on two ""Demonstration Days"", the first of them this evening (29/3). These will confirm the vehicle's readiness to approach and dock safely with the orbital complex. The A & B-roll describe the different step- by-step phases of the two crucial demonstrations.
For more info on this subject please check the script that is online as a PDF file under :http://television.esa.int/photos/EbS56177.pdf
A WMV preview clip is online under :http://esatv-movies.e-vision.nl/videos/mphi/ ATV_ORIBITAL_TV_27-03-08_wmphigh.wmv

ATV #5 : ""ATV orbital rehearsals before docking with the ISS""
01:00:00 Tape start
01: 01:00 A-Roll start
01:01:40 Arianeís picture-perfect launch placed the ATV on the planned orbit with a remarkable precision, to within less than a few hundred meters of the planned point of injection at an altitude of 260km.
01:01:55 Sound byte Kourou ëseparationí, applause and clip Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director-general ESA (in French) ""Twelve tons on February 12 with Columbus, 20 tons today with the ATV, ESA is feeling itself much lighter this evening.""
01:02:11 Whilst launch management and guests celebrated in Kourou, the ATV unfurled its solar panels and antenna, and the mission control teams in Toulouse began the tight-schedule of operations leading up to the docking...
01:02:25 ...a three-week period to test all the spacecraft systems and to rehearse a strict set of procedures to ensure an absolutely safe rendezvous with the Space Station.
01:02:39 Starting on March 9, t