International Space station set for busy spell

International Space station set for busy spell
PARIS (AFP) - Three spaceships are set to rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) by the end of February, according to the latest programme unveiled by space agenciesThe US shuttle Atlantis, bearing the European Space Agency's science module Columbus, has a launch window starting January 24, although liftoff is likelier between February 2 and 7, NASA said last week. Launch was initially scheduled for December 6 last year.

On February 7, an automated Russian resupply vessel, Progress, is due to be launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

This will be followed "in the second half of February" by the maiden launch of the ESA's own robot supply ship, the head of launch operator Arianespace, Jean-Yves Le Gall, said in Paris on Tuesday.

The launch of ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), baptised Jules Verne, "will be fine-tuned in the coming days, depending on the launch of the shuttle and the Progress," he said.

The ATV will be taken aloft by an Ariane-5 launcher from the European space base in Kourou, French Guiana.

Kourou and Baikonur will shoulder operations to send materials, personnel and supplies to the orbital ISS after the shuttle's scheduled retirement in 2010