A leading figure of 20th-century experimental physics, Edoardo Amaldi was one of the main players in the process that turned the dreams of large, transnational scientific projects among European countries into reality. While his role in the establishment of CERN is the prime example, he was also an active advocate for a European programme for space research and was instrumental in founding the organizations that were the precursors to ESA.
Image credit: ESA.
On 23 March ESA’s third Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), named in honour of Amaldi, was launched on board an Ariane rocket. It successfully docked with the International Space Station six days later, where it will remain for five months. The 20-tonne vessel, flying autonomously while being monitored from the ground, is delivering essential supplies and propellant, as well as reboosting the station’s altitude. The ATV docked with the 450-tonne orbital complex with a precision of 6 cm while circling the Earth at more than 28,000 km/h.
