European cargo vessel to dock with space station

PARIS (Reuters) - A European supply vessel carrying over five tons of freight is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday in a major advance for Europe's space programme.

Officials of the European Space Agency (ESA) said the docking of Europe's first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) was slated for 1441 GMT when it should ease into place without any intervention from astronauts in the space station.

Dubbed "Jules Verne" in honour of the visionary 19th century French science fiction writer, officials are counting on the ATV programme, in which $2 billion has been invested so far, to open the way to further European space exploration.

"The link-up must be made with extreme precision," ESA astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy told Reuters at Europe's space port in Kourou, French Guiana, before last month's launch.

"We must get this (technology) absolutely right if we are to go further to the moon or Mars," he said.

The ATV, built by a consortium led by the space unit of aerospace group EADS, carries three times the cargo of Russia's Progress vehicle and will play a key role supplying the ISS once the current generation of space shuttles is phased out.

At Thursday's docking with the ISS, overseen by control stations in France, the United States and Russia, the two vehicles will be travelling at 28,000 km per hour, underlining the technical challenge of the manoeuvre.

But officials were confident after two successful rehearsals this week. "It was a perfect dress-rehearsal for Thursday," said ESA official John Ellwood in a statement after a test on Monday.

The ATV was launched aboard an Ariane-5 rocket on March 9, carrying supplies and fuel as well as two original manuscripts of Jules Verne novels.