We're following the voice loops here in the ATV Control Room. The last update given was "the red button CAM is activated". This means that the red button the crew have on their console on board ISS to initiate a Collision Avoidance Manoeuvre (CAM) is activated.
-- Maria

Jules Verne reached station point S-1/2, located 39 km from the ISS, at 12:31:58 CEST. This marks the formal start of today's rendezvous & docking! -- Daniel

Jules Verne and the ISS are now in direct communication; the proximity link handles the relative GPS navigation data, among others.

So far this morning, Jules Verne has been conducting a series of thrusts to position itself for the start of today's docking attempt at station-keeping point S-1/2. -- Daniel

A slight change to today's timeline has just been issued: Contact of ATV's docking probe is expected at 16:40 CEST (14:40 UT), with full capture scheduled at 17:14 CEST (15:14 UT). These times are 1 minute earlier than previously published both here in the blog and in the ESA Web portal; we'll update the web shortly. The guys here both with ESA media relations and from the mission control team emphasize that all of today's times are subject to change (details after the jump). -- Daniel

 Full story »

I spoke yesterday with ESA's Kris Capelle, one of the four mission directors from the Agency here at ATV-CC. Kris will be 'on console' today as Mission Director for the docking - together with Hervé Côme - and he took some time to describe who's who on the various console positions.

Hervé will sit in ESA's Mission Director (MD)'s position on the early shift looking after rendezvous until Jules Verne reaches station-keeping point S3 (249 m from ISS), planned for 15:15 CEST. Then, he'll hand over to Kris, who will sit as MD for the rest of the day, including final approach, contact and capture, with contact due at 16:40 CEST and capture (closing of the hooks in the Russian module's docking port around the Jules Verne docking probe) due at 17:14 CEST. More details after the jump... (Note: there's been a slight change in planned times for today's RDV & docking - this post contains the correct times and we'll get a full update published shortly.) -- Daniel

 Full story »

Here is an interesting preview of what is scheduled to happen today, generated from the ATV simulation tool; it shows - in a compressed time-line - ATV making its rendezvous with the ISS, closing with the Russian module, and then finally docking.

The data used to generate the video is not from actual manoeuvres, but the video does nevertheless give a very good visualisation of Jules Verne's movements later today. 

Access full video links  under 'Full story' -- Daniel 

 Full story »

Access the most recent RDV & docking time-line in the ESA web portal at the link below; the key times (all subject to change) are listed here under 'Full story'. - Daniel

 Full story »