Today, the key people in the ATV project are gathered for the first part of the ATV-3 Post Flight Review. The objective is to extract any changes that need to be implemented in ATV-4 (or with the ground systems) before the ship carrying Albert Einstein leaves for Kourou in August.

Of course, the ATV-3 mission remains ongoing and will continue throughout the summer.

All of us have our computers up and running and, thanks to modern technology, we are all keeping an eye on the upcoming Dragon launch. (Dragon’s aloft! See below… Apologies for late posting – Ed.) This commercial vehicle is to be launched in a few minutes from now and will head to the ISS.

[Later] Presentations are underway when someone says “hey, why not put the launch on the main screen, we are all watching it anyway.” Said and done — and we watched as Falcon-9 lifted off from Florida, carrying Dragon on board.

All was quiet until separation (which just occurred). Congratulations to the launch team and now we must turn our attention back to ATV-3 PFR…

— Charlotte