Posted: Fri, Mar 23, 2012, 6:27 AM ET (1027 GMT)
An Ariane 5 rocket successfully launched early Friday a European cargo spacecraft to the ISS. The Ariane 5 ES rocket lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana, at 12:34 am EDT (0434 GMT) Friday and placed the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) 3 into low Earth orbit. ATV-3, also known as Edoardo Amaldi, is scheduled to dock with the ISS on March 28. The spacecraft has a total mass of nearly 20 metric tons, including about 6.6 metric tons of supplies for the ISS. The launch, postponed from earlier this month to check that vehicle's cargo was properly secured, is the first Ariane 5 mission of the year.
