posted 03-21-2012 09:11 AM               

This thread is intended for members' comments and questions about ESA's third ATV mission to the International Space Station and the updates posted under the topic: ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle-3 (ATV-3) "Edoardo Amaldi".

The European Space Agency's "Edoardo Amaldi" Automated Transfer Vehicle-3 (ATV-3) cargo craft is set to launch at 11:34 p.m. CDT on March 22 (0434 GMT on March 23). The vehicle, with its 7.2 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the station crew, will dock to the aft port of the Zvezda service module on March 28 at 5:34 p.m. CDT (2234 GMT).

posted 03-27-2012 01:35 PM               

Back at the ISS: Musical greeting to André Kuipers and ISS crew

All music and lyrics Copyright (C) 2012 Love & Mersey. Original video credit ESA.

'Back at the ISS' is a rocking musical greeting to ESA Astronaut André Kuipers, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and the entire crew of the ISS on the occasion of the docking of ESA's third Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), Edoardo Amaldi, set for 28 March 2012.

On that day, André and Oleg will undertake a special task working side by side in the Russian Zarya module of the ISS. The two will oversee the critical ATV docking manoeuvre, watching minute by minute as the vessel conducts a fully automatic docking and ready to take quick action if anything goes wrong.

Dutch band Love & Mersey have conceived and written a song using English, Dutch and Russian lyrics and inspired by the Beatles' famous 1968 song, Back in the USSR.

The band hope that everyone enjoys this musical greeting to the ISS crew and that young people, everywhere, will be inspired to do their best in following an education that may lead them, too, one day into space.

Download original lyrics here. Turn on captions to view English lyrics.