Watch the Launch

Albert Einstein ATV (ATV-004)

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Resupply

Low Earth Orbit Ariane Launch Area 3 Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

ATV-4 is the Automated Transfer Vehicle operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) to resupply the international space station (ISS) with propellant, water, air and dry cargo. After 10 days in orbit it docked to the ISS on 15th June 2013.

Ariane 5 ES

Family:
Configuration: ES

The Ariane 5 ES (Evolution Storable) has an estimated LEO launch capacity of 21,000 kg (46,000 lb). It includes all the performance improvements of Ariane 5 ECA core and boosters but replaces the ESC-A second stage with the restartable EPS used on Ariane 5 GS variants. It was used to launch the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) into a 260 km circular low Earth orbit inclined at 51.6° and has been used 3 times to launch 4 Galileo navigation satellites at a time directly into their operational orbit. The Ariane 5 ES flew 8 times from 2008 to 2018 with no failures.

Specifications
  • Max Stage
    2
  • Length
    45.7 m
  • Diameter
    5.4 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    5.4 m
  • Launch Mass
    746 T
  • Thrust
    11400 kN
Family
  • Name
    Ariane 5 ES
  • Family
  • Variant
    ES
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Ariane 5 ES
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    21000 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Albert Einstein ATV


In-active Cargo Unmanned Payload Capacity: 7667 kg
Destination: International Space Station
Serial Number: ATV-004

The Albert Einstein ATV, or Automated Transfer Vehicle 004 (ATV-004), was a European unmanned cargo resupply spacecraft, named after the German-born physicist Albert Einstein. It was built to supply the International Space Station (ISS) with propellant, water, air, and dry cargo, and also to reboost the station's altitude with its thrusters. It was the fourth and penultimate ATV to be built, following the Edoardo Amaldi, which was launched in March 2012. Albert Einstein's components were constructed in Turin, Italy, and Bremen, Germany, and underwent final assembly and testing in Bremen in 2012. The spacecraft left Bremen for Kourou on 31 August 2012 to begin launch preparations.

Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) Details

ArianeGroup

ArianeGroup

(AG)

CEO: André-Hubert Roussel Founded: 2015 Successes: 0 Failures: 0 Pending: 0

Agency Type:

ArianeGroup (formerly Airbus Safran Launchers) is an aerospace company based in France. A joint venture between Airbus and Safran, the company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux. It consists of three core arms: aerospace, defence and security.

INFO WIKI

Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Ariane Launch Area 3


Falcon 9
In Flight
1 hour, 42 minutes ago
Starlink Group 10-9
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

A batch of satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 4B
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Gaofen-11-05
Launch Complex 9 - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Gaofen is a series of civilian Earth observation satellites developed and launched for the China High-definition Earth Observation System (CHEOS), a …


Falcon 9
Failure
2 weeks, 1 day ago
Starlink Group 9-3
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 20 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Hyperbola-1
Failure
2 weeks, 2 days ago
Yunyao-1 15-17
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

3 weather satellites performing atmospheric measurements using GNSS Radio Occultation for a Tianjin based company. Constellation is planned to have a…


Ariane 62
Success
2 weeks, 3 days ago
Maiden Flight
Ariane Launch Area 4 - Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Maiden Flight of the Ariane 62 launch vehicle, carrying ten cubesats, two deployers, five experiments, and two reentry capsules.


Falcon 9
Success
2 weeks, 4 days ago
Türksat 6A
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

Türksat 6A is Turkey's first domestically manufactured geostationary communications satellite. It is to reside in 42° East orbital slot, providing se…


Long March 6A
Success
3 weeks, 1 day ago
Tianhui 5 Group 02
Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

A pair of satellites officially described as for cartographic surveying purposes, details TBD.


Firefly Alpha
Success
3 weeks, 2 days ago
FLTA005 (Noise of Summer)
Space Launch Complex 2W - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Fifth flight of the Firefly Alpha small sat launcher, carrying eight cubesats for NASA's ELaNa 43 (Educational Launch of a Nanosatellite) mission.


Falcon 9
Success
3 weeks, 2 days ago
Starlink Group 8-9
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

A batch of 20 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


H3-22
Success
3 weeks, 5 days ago
Advanced Land Observing Satellite-4 (ALOS-4)
Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-2 - Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

The Advanced Land Observing Satellite-4 (ALOS-4) is a Japanese satellite designed to observe the Earth's surface using a phased array type L-band syn…