HOUSTON — NASA Television plans live coverage of the launch and automated docking of the second unpiloted European cargo ship that will deliver approximately seven tons of fuel, food and supplies to the International Space Station.
NASA TV coverage of the launch from the northern coast of South America will begin at 3:45 p.m. CST on Tuesday, Feb. 15. The European Space Agency and its launch services provider, Arianespace, are scheduled to launch the Johannes Kepler Automated Transfer Vehicle-2, or ATV2, on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, at 4:13 p.m. (7:13 p.m. in Kourou). NASA TV coverage will continue through the deployment of the cargo ship’s solar arrays about 90 minutes after launch.
After an eight-day journey, the spacecraft will rendezvous and dock to the aft port of the station’s Zvezda service module.
If the ATV2 launches Feb. 15 as scheduled, NASA TV will broadcast the final rendezvous and docking beginning at 8:45 a.m. on Feb. 23. Docking is scheduled at approximately 9:20 a.m. ATV2 will remain attached to Zvezda until early June, when it will undock and deorbit for a destructive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.
For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
For more information about the ATV2, visit: http://blogs.esa.int/atv
For more information about the International Space Station and its crew members, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station
