ATV-3 Ready for Launch on March 23

 

Officials at the European Space Agency (ESA) announce that engineers at the Kourou Spaceport, in French Guiana, South America, were recently able to fix the issue that prevented the third Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-3) from launching when it was originally supposed to. 

The spacecraft, called Edoardo Amaldi, is now scheduled to launch to space on March 23, and to rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) on March 28. Initially, ESA mission controllers wanted to launch it on March 9, Space reports. 

However, an inspection carried out shortly before the countdown ended found that two bags in the module's cargo compartment were not correctly strapped into place. This forced ESA to rearrange the entire cargo so that everything can fit neatly into place. 

The third ATV was named in honor of the famed Italian physicist and space pioneer Edoardo Amaldi.