Now that Jules Verne is docked and in operation at the ISS, we're signing off from the Jules Verne ATV Blog! We've had a fantastic time reporting for ESA's blog from ESOC in Germany, ESTEC in The Netherlands, and - of course - ATV-CC in Toulouse, France.

We'd like to thank everyone at ESA, CNES and the industry teams who took time to answer our questions, especially the men and women on the ATV project team and on the mission control team. We'd also like to thank everyone who visited our blog - and especially those who posted a comment, a query or a message.

For future updates on ATV, please check the ATV site on the main ESA Web portal, at http://www.esa.int/atv.

-- Daniel, Maria and the Blog Team

ISS astronauts did the final ATV hatch opening at about 10:30 CEST (08:30 UT) this morning, clearing the way to start unloading Jules Verne’s cargo. We spoke with Alberto Novelli at ATV-CC afterwards, and he was quite positive:

"Everyone here is really pleased with how operations have gone so far, both in space and on the ground. It's a great moment to watch the astronauts going in to ATV - everyone here is happy. Now we will continue to monitor progress."

There's a full report on the ESA Website. -- Daniel 

Back from ATV-CC again. The air scrubber has been installed and is running... so the crew must have been inside ATV. The hatch will be closed again now whilst the scrubber does its job. Final hatch opening is scheduled for tomorrow morning at around 10:00 CEST (08:00 UT), although as always, that time is subject to change!
--Maria

At 12:17 CEST (10:17 UT) word was received that the ISS crew had opened the hatches between ISS and ATV. There was a gap in the Russian communications at the time the hatch opening was performed - when the communication came back online, the crew reported they had opened the hatches. First ingress should follow shortly after air sampling has been performed.
-- Maria

Now that Jules Verne is part of the Space Station... it's time to get the hatch open. I was just over in the ATV Control Centre to find out the latest news. Hatch opening operations are set to get underway at 11:25 CEST (09:25 UT). Ingress should follow at 12:10 CEST (10:10 UT). Today's ingress is only partial. The crew will leave a so-called 'air scrubber' running inside ATV to clean the air of any gasses or small debris particles before final ingress on Saturday morning. More later!
--Maria

(Jean-François Clervoy explained hatch opening in an earlier post...)

"It was absolutely amazing ... it was absolutely fantastic." - A quick mp3 audio statement from ESA's John Ellwood, ATV Project Manager, who was (also) interviewed by Maria yesterday shortly after docking.

Access mp3 audio here:

"A wonderful achievement - we are all really happy because the team performed extremely well" - A quick mp3 audio statement from ESA's Alberto Novelli, head of operations here at ATV-CC, who was interviewed by Maria yesterday shortly after docking.

Access mp3 audio here:

Access an mp3 recording of comments by ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain, recorded after docking, when he spoke to the media and guests here at ATV-CC (thanks to Henning for this). -- Daniel

Access mp3 audio here:

An interesting time sequence of ATV docking, combined into one image. The original was compiled by Stuart, over at the Cumbria Sky blog (thanks, Stuart!). -- Daniel

(Click for full-size version)

Simvol view at 19 metres... (click for more!)

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