ATV fever

With only a couple of days to go before the launch of the first European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) on top of an Ariane 5 rocket, the excitement in the Space geek community is starting to build-up, with the help of various interesting documents which were recently released, such as a Launch Kit (PDF, 6Mb) from EADS. As usual for an Ariane launch, Arianespace will be broadcasting the launch, but this time NASA TV will also cover the launch, live! We were suppose to visit some friends Saturday evening, but since the launch was postponned by 24h and is now happening that particular night, I had no choice by to cancel (the invitation, not the launch). Since they know that I'm a big Space geek, I think they understand ... However, my wife isn't too happy about staying home to watch another boring (night) launch on a tiny Window on my computer screen ...

To mark the event, ESA have started a few days ago a blog, to follow live the first mission of the ATV.