Tonight, mission controllers at ATV-CC will start conducting a series of burns to line up (phase) ATV-4’s orbit with that of the ISS for this year’s special re-entry profile. This is planned to enable the crew on board the ISS to view re-entry more or less directly below the station (see All good missions must come to an end).

The first two manoeuvre burns are planned as follows (times UTC; now, CET = UTC + 1):

TP1: 19:48:35 start – 19:52:25 end
Total burn: 03:50 min:sec

TP2: 20:31:40 start – 20:35:34 end
Total burn: 03:54 min:sec