Amazing ATV

18 June 2013 - ATV Albert Einstein , Europe's supply and support ferry, docked with the International Space Station last Saturday. This image, taken from the Station, reveals the exhaust plumes as the 20-tonne craft fires some of its 24 thrusters to adjust its approach. At the end of this delicate and automated procedure, ESA's largest spacecraft made with humanity's largest orbital outpost at 14:07 GMT (16:07 CEST) as they travelled at 28 000 km/h. The docking was so precise that Albert Einstein was only 11 mm off centre, hitting its target without touching the surrounding docking cone: "A hole in one," as controllers remarked at the ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, France. Russian specialists there said they had never seen such precision before. In this image, ATV-4 is lit by the Sun from behind as its solar cells absorb the Sun's energy. The golden 'lights' are the sunlight shining through the solar panel hinges.
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