Europe's Ariane 5 heavy-lift rocket on July 29 successfully launched the fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) cargo carrier toward the international space station, marking the beginning of the end for a program whose most important legacy may be a U.S.-European partnership of mutual dependence in manned spaceflight. Weighing 20,300 kilograms -including adaptors in addition to the vehicle itself - ATV-5 was placed into a 260-kilometer orbit and was reported in good health by its ground managers at the European Space Agency. The vehicle is carrying some 7,000 kilograms of fuel, water, food and other supplies. ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain announced shortly after the launch that ATV-5's solar panels had been deployed successfully. It is scheduled to dock automatically to the space station Aug. 12, where it will stay for about six months before being loaded with garbage and sent on a destructive re-entry into Earth's atmosphere over the South Pacific.
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