ATV-1 Automated Transfer Vehicle - "Jules Verne"

After a successful mission to the International Space Station, the unmanned Jules Verne ATV was set to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. The re-entry took place over an uninhabited area of the Pacific Ocean after two deorbit burns.

The DC-8 took scientists to intercept the Jules Verne where it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and burned up into multiple fragments. The challenge of this mission was to fly the DC-8 to a strategic location in the atmosphere at a specific time so that scientists from the European Space Agency and SETI could record the spacecraft re-entry and take measurements of the physical characteristics of the burn-up.

PI Instruments: 13
Dates: September 29, 2008
Flight hours: 30