International Spaceflight Museum

Today (29th September 2008), after a successful first mission, the Jules Verne freighter (also known as the Automated Transfer Vehicle – ATV), will fire its engines on two separate occasions to decay its current orbit and plunge towards the Pacific Ocean. On board, months of trash from the International Space Station. 4 more missions are currently planned for the $1bn price tag freight container. No one is really sure how much of the spacecraft will reach the Pacific ocean. Most of it should burn up as it re-enters the atmosphere at a whopping 27,360 km/h. There is a small chance though that the craft will reach the ocean, although in pieces. For this reason, an exclusion zone for air and sea traffic has been put around the possible landing area. A model of the ATV is on show at the ISM and a copy of the model is available for purchase in the ISM gift shop.

[Here's one YouTube vid of the spectacular reentry firestreak

http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=bvfANdWKJio&feature=PlayList&p=8330EFB431CFDF08&index=3 ]

-Paradox

I’m so lucky. I live in a town that has a long history in Space flight. In fact, for as long as I can remember, Stevenage in Hertfordshire, UK has had pioneering companies involved in space related activities. The first was British Aerospace and now EADS Astrium. Astrium have been involved in a long line of groundbreaking missions including many built (but maybe not assembled) in Stevenage. The Beagle 2 and the Automated Transfer Vehicle Jules Verne (ATV), to name two well known examples. The latter is a recent addition to the existing exhibits in the ISM and a model is available from the ISM gift shop. Now, ESA are proposing a sample return mission to a near Earth object. The mission has been named Marco Polo and Astrium have been appointed the prime contractor.  What’s more, the mission is a collaboration with the Japanese Space Agency JAXA, a potent mix of expertise. The proposed launch vehicle will be a Soyuz rocket, another ISM exhibit.

So when someone asks you where all those ESA space missions are built. You can now tell them Stevenage in Hertfordshire, UK. It’s where all the great European space stuff really goes on!