This week's astronomy picture is of Jules Verne European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle. It was used for the first time on April 25th to raise the orbit of the International Space Station. A 740-second burn of the Automated Transfer Vehicle's main engines successfully lifted the altitude of the 280 ton station by around 4.5 km to a height of 342 km above the Earth's surface. The ATV was named after Jules a French author who pioneered the science-fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days. Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before navigable aircraft and practical submarines were invented, and before any means of space travel had been devised. Using a laser guided rendezvous system, the Jules Verne docked smoothly and safely with the orbiting station on Thursday, delivering 7,500 pounds of equipment, supplies, and fuel.
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