Since launch last week ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, France has been online 24/7 monitoring ATV-4 and making sure the spacecraft operates smoothly. During docking today the control room will be full house with engineers and flight controllers to achieve a safe docking, but who does what?

ATV-CC today, docking day

On the left is the Flight dynamics control room where the calculations are made to determine where ATV is and where it is going. In the middle is the main control room where the operational teams work. To the right of them is the Engineering Support with all the vehicle experts. The people here provide support and know everything about the vessel’s design.

In the main control room, on row 1 we find the teams that monitor ATV including the Spacecraft Commander that sends commands to the spacecraft.

Row 2 is for the mission directors with ESA mission director sitting next to French space agency CNES Flight director as well as the OPS Manger and ATV interface officer.

Row 3 is for the Ground Controllers that monitor all ATV activities on Earth. They deal with the control centres in Houston, Moscow and French Guiana.

Row 4 is reserved for team members from NASA and Roscosmos during key mission phases such as launch and docking.