ATV Albert Einstein, Europe’s supply and support ferry, docked with the International Space Station on 15 June 2013, some ten days after its launch from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. In this image, ATV’s four solar panel arrays can be seen along with the vertical antenna on top. This antenna is the ‘proximity boom’ that is used to communicate with the Station.
ATV Albert Einstein brought 7 tonnes of supplies, propellant and experiments to the complex. ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano oversaw the unloading and cataloguing of the cargo, comprising over 1400 individual items.