ATV-5 attached to the Station at night. Credits: ESA/NASA

ATV-5 attached to the Station at night. Credits: ESA/NASA

Busy times for ATV-5 delivering fuel and oxygen to the International Space Station. Another update from ATV Control Centre (ATV-CC) courtesy of Marcus de Deus Silva:

As well as the successful Refuelling System Leak Check reported yesterday, ATV-5 also finished its third oxygen transfer. Unlike refuelling, the Space Station crew is involved, so earlier yesterday morning Alexander Gerst opened the valves in ATV-5 to start the flow of oxygen from its gas tanks. Over the next six and a half hours ATV slowly released about 17 kg of oxygen into the Station’s atmosphere, carefully monitored by specialists in ATV-CC Toulouse, France and Mission Control in Houston, USA. At the end of the transfer Alexander reported that he was very refreshed by this European oxygen!