An unmanned Ariane rocket successfully put a cargo vessel into orbit today in Europe's first mission to carry supplies to the International Space Station (ISS), space officials said.
An artist's impression dated from November 2007 and provided by the European Space Agency ESA shows the European Automated Transfer Vehicle ATV 'Jules Verne' advancing to the International Space Station ISS, in background, in an orbit over planet Earth.
The modified Ariane-5 launcher lifted off at 4.03am (GMT) from Europe's spaceport in Kourou on the northeast coast of South America carrying a 20 tonne cargo module on top.
The vessel, dubbed "Jules Verne" in honour of the visionary 19th century French science fiction writer, is the first Automatic Transfer Vehicle (ATV) that Europe has committed to its participation in the ISS programme.
Constructed by an industrial consortium led by EADS Astrium, a division of European industrial giant EADS, the ATV is designed to deliver fuel, food, clothing and oxygen to the ISS crew as well as spare parts for Europe's Columbus laboratory.
Columbus was delivered to the ISS last month aboard a US space shuttle. The ATV will remain docked to the space station for six months as astronauts remove its cargo and fill it with rubbish from the station.
It will then be thrust back toward earth, burning up on re-entry. Any remaining debris will be targeted to a remote area of the Pacific Ocean.
Billed by the European Space Agency (ESA) as a major challenge for Europe's space programme, the ATV will dock with the ISS without human intervention.
"This is a challenge because the ATV must rendezvous with the space station and the two vehicles will be travelling at 28,000 kilometres an hour," ESA astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy told Reuters.
"The link-up must be made with extreme precision ... We must get this (technology) absolutely right if we are to go further to the moon or Mars," Clervoy said.