Jules Verne is Dead....Again!

Ok ok. It's time to get this blog back on track. Now, I know that I promised yesterday that we would start the recovery process by focusing on non-earthly things, but I was browsing the Youtubes today and decided to settle on a compromise.

I give to you: The controlled deorbit of the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle, Jules Verne!!



(do not be fooled by how lame this video appears in the first 25 seconds, please, K THNX)

The Automated Transver Vehicle (ATV) Jules Verne is an unmanned expendable resupply spacecraft that was launched on March 9, 2008 to supply the International Space Station with propellant, water, air and dry cargo (says the WikiGod). And look at how commodious!!

During its six-odd-month mission, the ATV also fired its rockets to raise the ISS orbit by 4.5 kilometers. Can you do that? I cannot either. More on this (with excellent animation).

More ATVs are being built, and the program schedule calls for a similar re-supply mission to the ISS every 17 months. After its mission is complete, the ATV is destroyed in a controlled deorbit over an "unpopulated" area of the Pacific. So every year and a half the International-nauts on the communist/capitalist/politically neutral space station get food staples and other necessities (along with a sweet new pad...I wonder who gets dibs) and we here on Earth get to forget our temporal woes for three minutes and watch a symbol of technological triumph and international collaboration come to a spectacular, fiery end.

Oh wait this video explains everything. MISISON ACCOMPLISHED.