Oolite Bulletins

I'm watching on NASA TV, launch is scheduled for 21:52:11 GMT (5:52:11 p.m. EDT).

The ATV, named Albert Einstein, is to be launched by an Ariane 5 ES rocket from Kourou in French Guiana.

Launch has occurred right on time.

Did anyone else see that? The Ariane seemed to race off the pad, with a much bigger acceleration compared to, say, a space shuttle. Very impressive.

Here's a link to a video of the launch on YouTube: http://youtu.be/ZnN0vJj5Z9U

Why is this important?

The ATV is BIG. It carries four times the amount of cargo than the Russian Progress capsules. Its also used to boost the stations' altitude, the ATV3 boosted the stations' altitude by over 40 km.

Technology from the ATV will be used in the Service Module for the NASA Orion deep space ship.

Forgot to watch the docking today, but all went well. There was concern about a laser reflector on the Zvezda module that may have been damaged by a Progress ship, but the automated docking system didn't have any problems.

Read the docking story on Spaceflight Now, here.