Today, ATV-5 completed the first water delivery of the mission so far, transferring 88l. Colleen Boggs, ATV Cargo Operations Engineer at ATV-CC, reports.

We’ve just completed the first water transfer for ATV-5, delivering 88L of Russian water from Tank #2 into four Russian EDV containers (Russian water containers; 22 litres each).

ATV water & gas control panel Credit: ESA/NASA

ATV water & gas control panel Credit: ESA/NASA

This will be the first of several transfers, as we launched ATV5 with three full water tanks (the first mission to have them fully loaded!).

The crew were able to set up and finish today’s transfer faster than expected, so things are looking good – and we have now completed about 10 % of water unloading.

Once a tank becomes empty, it will undergo a bladder integrity check – to ensure there are no leaks – before it is free to accept liquid waste from the ISS.

So with the unloading of water and reloading of waste (up to about 850 L), the water control panel will see lots of activity in the coming months!