News From Space!

The European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), dubbed "Jules Verne,"  is set to launch tonight from ESA's Guiana Space Centre in South America. The ATV is a 21-ton unmanned spacecraft designed to resupply the International Space Station. 

The ATV is about 3 times the size of the Russian Progress freighter, and it can stay attached to the ISS for up to six months. Like the Progress, the ATV can use its thrusters to boost the Station's altitude, and it can be filled with trash, which will be incinerated as the spacecraft burns up upon reentry.

Liftoff is scheduled for 11:03 p.m. EST on 8 March 2008 (0403 GMT on 9 March). Play-by-play here and here. Live discussion here. Live video here and here.