Space Station Resupply Vehicle

The resupply vehicle is an expendable spacecraft that carries supplies three or four times a year to the International Space Station.

It carries fuel, ‘consumables’ such as air, food and water for the astronauts, maintenance items and materials for experiments. It is unmanned during flight, and docks with the space station.

After docking, astronauts can go in and out of the vehicle, which remains docked until shortly before the new one is due to arrive. It is then filled with waste materials, including used clothing, and disconnected from the space station. It is destroyed when it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere.

Until recently, the Progress, a Russian resupply vehicle was used. In March 2008, the first of a new series of resupply vehicle, the Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicles, was launched.

A pressurised forward module that carries the supplies for the crew such as scientific equipment, clothes, prepackaged and fresh food, and letters from home.

A fuel compartment with ducting along the outside of the spacecraft. This means that if a leak occurred, the poisonous gas would not enter the station's atmosphere.

A propulsion module at the rear of the spacecraft contains the orientation engines used for the automatic docking. It may be used to boost the orbit of the station once docked.

If you use any part of this in your own work, acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:
Sydenham, S. & Thomas, R. Space Station Supply Vehicles [Online] www.kidcyber.com.au [2008]