On March 31, Jules Verne ATV made its closest approach to the International Space Station before the Thursday docking, in its Demonstration Day 2. The Automated Transfer Vehicle got as close as 11 m of the docking port on the Russian Zvezda module in what proved to be a successful attempt before the April 3 docking.

After in Demonstration Day 1 the ATV proved its capabilities to use the GPS system for docking maneuvers without endangering the International Space Station or its crew, in Demonstration Day 2 the control centre tested the second key element to a safe and successful docking, by using the ATV’s optical sensors.

“This demonstration day confirms the performance of the vehicle is even better than we had hoped for,” said Nicolas Chamussy, Astrium ATV Project Manager. “This is a world premiere for automated rendezvous using optical sensors, following the world’s first demonstration of relative GPS navigation between Jules Verne and the Station performed on Saturday.”

At the end of Demonstration Day 1, the ATV was successfully sent away from the International Space Station through a command sent from the ATV Control Centre in Toulouse. On Demonstration Day 2, the ATV Control Centre managed once again to keep a clear contact with the vehicle and issue specific commands, which will come in handy if unexpected problems should occur during the docking attempt.

Lionel Baize, ATV-CC Project Manager for CNES said: “Today was an important success for the Toulouse control centre to orchestrate a human-rated mission with the Station and it is a main step which is very promising for the docking attempt on Thursday. It is an incredible challenge to have three control centres working together and to interact live with the ISS crew.”

Twenty-four hours before the actual docking is set to take place on Thursday, the ISS Mission Management Team, together with its European partners, will decide whether the docking should take place as scheduled or should be postponed.

Both the European Space Agency and CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales) in Toulouse will offer live images with mission updates and the docking from the ATV Control Centre at CNES in Toulouse, where they will also offer the latest information and data on the mission.