PARIS, June 14 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency says its first Automated Transfer Vehicle, called the Jules Verne, will be ready for launch early next year.
The spacecraft will be shipped to Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, in mid-July for a launch that's been revised because of "heavy traffic" at International Space Station. It had been scheduled to lift off during a September-November launch window.
Once in Kourou, the ATV will have to undergo integration and further tests before a more precise launch date is set, the ESA said.
Jules Verne is the first of a series of ATVs that will transport supplies to the crew aboard the International Space Station. The vehicles also will be used to re-boost the station's orbit to overcome the effects of residual atmospheric drag.
After six months at the ISS the ATV will undock and be used to dispose of station waste during a controlled destructive re-entry into Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.
