Europe's automated space station resupply ship fell back into Earth's atmosphere overnight Tuesday, disposing of nearly 3,000 pounds waste from the orbiting outpost over the Pacific Ocean.

Read our full story on the re-entry.

Capping a six-month resupply and reboost mission, Europe's third Automated Transfer Vehicle left the International Space Station on Friday, setting course for a fiery final act to collect research data and dispose of the orbiting lab's garbage.

Read our full story on the undocking.

The ATV has begun a departure burn to fly away from the space station.

Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle has undocked from the International Space Station over Kazakhstan, concluding 184 days attached to the 450-ton orbiting laboratory.

The space station is in free drift mode for ATV departure, and control centers in Houston, Moscow and Toulouse, France, have given approval for undocking on time.

The demerging process has begun, in which power and data connections are broken between the ATV and the space station's Zvezda service module.

The ATV, nicknamed Edoardo Amaldi, will have spent 184 days attached to the space station at the time of undocking. It arrived March 28.

Preparations on schedule for undocking in about 16 minutes.

The ATV's avionics have been switched on in advance of undocking, and a direct radio link between the ATV and the space station has been established.

Electrical and data connections between the ATV and the space station will be disconnected beginning around 2137 GMT (5:37 p.m. EDT).

After a three-day delay, Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle is scheduled to depart the International Station on Friday to begin its final mission of disposing trash and waste water during a fiery re-entry over the Pacific Ocean.

Hooks connecting the ATV to the Zvezda service module were opened on the space station side a few hours ago, and the ship's avionics systems will be activated beginning around 2119 GMT (5:19 p.m. EDT).

Undocking is set for 2146 GMT (5:46 p.m. EDT), when springs will push the vehicles apart at a rate of about 3 inches per second.

The ATV's thrusters will fire to further separate from the space station.

Re-entry is planned for around 0100 GMT on Oct. 3 (9 p.m. EDT on Oct. 2).

We will have live streaming video of undocking beginning at 2130 GMT (5:30 p.m. EDT).

Undocking of Europe's ATV cargo freighter has been set for approximately 2146 GMT (5:46 p.m. EDT) Friday.

The debris avoidance maneuver with the ATV's thrusters was called off this morning after analysis showed the space station would not pass close enough to a piece of space junk to warrant the burn.

Re-entry of the Automated Transfer Vehicle is expected on the night of Oct. 2.

Space station managers have elected to go ahead with a debris avoidance maneuver tomorrow morning, pushing back ATV's undocking until at least Friday.

Tuesday's undocking of Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle from the space station was aborted because commands to disconnect the cargo ship were sent using the wrong number, according to the European Space Agency.

The departure was called off after the ATV did not respond as expected to the undocking command, and reports from NASA initially blamed the problem on a laptop attached to a command panel inside the space station's Russian segment.

But the commands were not carried out because they were sent using the wrong spacecraft identification number, according to ESA.

Space station managers will meet Wednesday afternoon to set a new undocking date for the ATV.

Officials are monitoring a close flyby, or conjunction, of a piece of Russian space debris, which could trigger an avoidance maneuver Thursday morning to move the space station out of the way.

The space station cannot support the avoidance burn and ATV's undocking on the same day.

If a debris avoidance maneuver is not required, the ATV could undock from the space station Thursday. The tentative time for undocking is 2100 GMT (5 p.m. EDT).

Undocking would slip until at least Friday if officials decide to go ahead with the avoidance maneuver.

Hooks between the ATV and the space station have been closed to again connect the two vehicles firmly together.

It is unclear when the next undocking attempt will occur.

Officials have called off undocking for today due to a problem with a laptop controlling a crew command panel inside the space station.

ATV's avionics and flight control systems are powering up now for undocking as live video video coverage begins on NASA TV.

Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle will close out a 181-day stay at the International Space Station on Tuesday when it backs away from the outpost and heads for an incinerating re-entry.

The size of a double-decker bus, the ATV is loaded with trash and waste water for the journey back into the atmosphere. In addition to a heavy-lifting cargo freighter, the ATV functions as a garbage truck at the end of its mission.

Last week, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko finished transferring urine from the space station's Russian segment into the ATV's water tanks. Japanese astronaut also loaded final pieces of trash into the ship's pressurized module.

Astronauts closed the ATV's hatch for the last time at 1655 GMT (12:55 p.m. EDT) Monday.

Undocking is scheduled for 2235 GMT (6:35 p.m. EDT).

The spacecraft will automatically back away from its docking port on the aft end of the Russian Zvezda service module, setting the stage for two braking maneuvers to drop the ship from orbit.

The ATV is not equipped with a heat shield and is designed to break apart and burn up during re-entry. The craft's hardiest components will splash down in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and Chile around 0330 GMT Thursday (11:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday).

A re-entry breakup recorder provided by the Aerospace Corp. will record data during the ATV's plunge back into the atmosphere. Researchers hope to use the information to build better re-entry models and make more accurate re-entry predictions for decaying satellites.

Mission controllers confirmed a backup power supply was successfully connected to Europe's automated cargo freighter Saturday, allowing the craft's five-month flight to resupply the International Space Station to go forward as planned.

The 20-ton spacecraft docked to the complex Wednesday, but engineers noticed a primary power connection between the space station and the Automated Transfer Vehicle failed Thursday. The power system is designed to route the station's electricity to buses on the ATV.

While engineers scrambled to resolve the problem, mission controllers in Houston, Moscow and Toulouse, France, drafted plans to undock the ATV as soon as next week. Sun angles were expected to become unfavorable for the spacecraft to generate its own electricity if it remained docked to the complex.

The backup power channel of the Russian Equipment Control System was activated, and Moscow flight controllers reported the electrical chain was connected to the proper power buses and all relays were closed at 1703 GMT (1:03 p.m. EDT), according to an update posted on NASA's website.

As officials on the ground contemplated an early undocking, the space station's six-person crew worked overtime Saturday to unload the highest-priority cargo from the ATV's pressurized section. The ATV delivered nearly 7.3 tons of food, clothing, scientific experiments, water, propellant and breathing air.

Once the redundant electrical connection was confirmed, the crew was told to stand down from cargo transfers and take Sunday and Monday off after their extra work.

The ATV fired its main Aerojet-built thrusters for nearly 5 minutes at 2154 GMT (5:54 p.m. EDT), raising the pergiee, or low point, of the space station's orbit by about 2 statute miles.

The reboost would have been canceled if the backup power system was not activated.

The crew aboard the International Space Station has opened hatches leading to a newly-arrived European cargo craft, but engineers on the ground are drafting contingency plans to end the resupply mission early if they are unable to fix an electrical system glitch.

Engineers at the cargo ship's control center in Toulouse, France, reported the failure of one of two redundant Russian Equipment Control System channels that route station power to the Automated Transfer Vehicle, according to a NASA update issued Friday.

A backup power channel passed in initial test Friday, but it has not yet been connected to the space station electrical system, the update said.

If engineers are unable to route the space station's power supply to the ATV, the freighter's own solar panels are unable to generate sufficient electricity due to unfavorable sun angles, according to European Space Agency controllers.

The Automated Transfer Vehicle, christened Edoardo Amaldi after an Italian physicist and space pioneer, needs access to the space station's power supply to stay at the complex.

The bus-sized spacecraft, which docked to the space station Wednesday, may have to depart the complex early if the lab's power cannot be extended to the ATV. Current schedules call for the freighter to remain at the space station until at least late August.

"While it is highly unlikely, the situation could lead to an earlier than planned undocking of ATV 3," the NASA update said. "NASA, ESA and Russian space agency experts are working together on contingency plans to try to extend power to the ATV 3. The multinational team is drafting a plan for the unloading of critical cargo if a worst-case scenario should lead to an expedited undocking."

Controllers plan to fire the ATV's thrusters Saturday to reboost the space station's orbit by about two miles.

But the reboost will be cancelled if the power issue is not resolved by Saturday morning.

Another orbit-raising maneuver by the ATV is scheduled for Thursday, April 5. The reboosts will adjust the space station's orbit for the departure of a Russian Progress spacecraft April 19 and the arrival of another Progress resupply mission April 22.

Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle, the third in a line of five robotic cargo haulers, glided into the aft docking port of the International Space Station on Wednesday, delivering a heavy load of supplies, food, rocket fuel, air and water to keep the 450-ton complex.

As big as a double-decker bus, the 20-ton spaceship approached the space station with GPS satellite navigation and state-of-the-art lasers, which supplied precise range and positioning information to the ATV's on-board computers.

Read our full story on the docking.

Check out spectacular photos of the ATV's final approach to the space station.

ESA confirms electrical connections between Edoardo Amaldi and the International Space Station are active.

The space station crew says they did not even feel the docking of the ATV.

"The contact was very soft," one of the astronauts said. "We didn't even feel it."

Hooks are driving to form a hard mate between the ATV and the space station.

"We have a probe on the front of the ATV which goes into the cone," said Kris Capelle, ESA's mission director for the ATV 3 flight. "Once we hit the cone, we have some hooks open, so we are not yet attached to the ISS, but we are hanging on. Then the probe pulls us closer to the ISS. Then we have connections, electrical connections, command connections, so that we can communicate between the ISS and the ATV.

NASA says the docking probe on the Automated Transfer Vehicle is being retracted.

Contact and capture confirmed over the Pacific Ocean!

The approach has resumed again and all systems are "go" for docking.

Right on time, the ATV has arrived at the S41 hold point. Control centers in Houston, Moscow and Toulouse will each give their "go" for docking in the next few minutes.

The spacecraft is moving closer to the space station again, heading for the S41 hold point 11 meters, or 36 feet, from the space station.

The ATV's docking system is reported to be in the proper configuration for arrival at 2233 GMT (6:33 p.m. EDT).

Engineers in Toulouse are "green" to continue with the approach.

Resembling an X-wing starfighter from the Star Wars film series, the Edoardo Amaldi spacecraft is now about 62 feet from the space station at the S4 hold point.

Controllers in Toulouse will be polled to affirm their readiness to continue the approach to the space station, and the ATV will point its docking probe toward the cone on the aft end of the outpost's Zvezda service module, aligning the ship for arrival.

The European cargo craft is now illuminated by the sun as it flies about 100 feet from the space station. Officials say the rendezvous is going well.

The Edoardo Amaldi spacecraft is 75 meters, or 246 feet, from its docking port, and closing at a rate of about 6 inches per second.

Range is now 105 meters, or about 344 feet. Orbital sunrise is 10 minutes away.

The ATV has departed the S3 hold point, now navigating with futuristic laser beams to manage a precise, methodical approach to the space station.

Click reload or refresh to watch NASA's live coverage of today's docking.

Now flying over the night side of planet Earth, the Automated Transfer Vehicle is now visible only via blinking navigation lights in the live video stream from the International Space Station. The ATV is 246 meters, or about 800 feet, from the back of the space station's Zvezda module.

Now positioned at a hold point approximately 280 meters, or 918 feet, from the space station, the Automated Transfer Vehicle has arrived at the S3 hold point in today's rendezvous profile.

The craft will remain at the S3 hold point for about 36 minutes as controllers in Toulouse, France, activate the ATV's videometer and telegoniometer optical and laser sensors, which provide precise range, closing rate, directional and lateral motion data to the ship's flight computers in the final phase of docking.

Controllers in Toulouse will also be polled for a "go" to continue the ATV's approach.

The ATV is now 308 meters, or about 1,010 feet behind the space station.

Range between the ATV and the space station is now 1,236 meters, or about 4,055 feet. The cargo craft is firing its engines now to slow its approach, the next in a continuing series of maneuvers to fine-tune its rendezvous.

Another so-called closing maneuver is planned at about 2103 GMT (5:03 p.m. EDT), which will be a 400-second firing to place Edoardo Amaldi at the S3 hold point 250 meters behind the space station.

ESA reports the Edoardo Amaldi spacecraft just passed within 6,000 feet of the space station.

The Automated Transfer Vehicle has resumed its flight toward the space station, bound for the next hold point 250 meters, or about 817 feet, behind the outpost. It should arrive there at 2110 GMT (5:10 p.m. EDT).

The ATV is now 3.5 kilometers, or 2.2 miles, behind the space station at the S2 hold point. It arrived in this position at about 2000 GMT (4 p.m. EDT), and it should resume its approach at 2030 GMT (4:30 p.m. EDT).

ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko just tested their ability to issue commands to the ATV cargo freighter using a console inside the station's Zvezda service module.

Engineers are also activating the ATV's Kurs radar system, a backup Russian docking device to be used if the craft's two primary optical sensors run into problems. Controllers are also switching on ATV's external lights at this hold point.

Space station commander Dan Burbank reported earlier he has spotted the Automated Transfer Vehicle.

Range between the ATV and the space station is now 15.5 kilometers as the cargo craft passes the S1 waypoint, one of several possible hold points in the final rendezvous sequence.

Controllers at the ATV ground center in France and space station mission control in Moscow and Houston have approved the spacecraft continuing its approach to the S2 waypoint 3.5 kilometers from the outpost.

The ATV is using relative GPS navigation to track down the space station in this phase of its approach, comparing satellite fixes between itself and the complex. It has also established a proximity radio communications link with the space station.

European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko will man a control console inside the station's Zvezda service module. The station crew would use the device to command the freighter to retreat, abort, escape the vicinity of the complex.

The possibility of crew intervention becomes feasible when the ATV reaches the S3 hold point about 817 feet behind the station at 2110 GMT (5:10 p.m. EDT).

The automated cargo ship will hold there for about 36 minutes as the ATV activates its terminal phase rendezvous sensors and engineers thoroughly check the craft's health from a control center in Toulouse, France.

The craft will press closer to the station using precise navigation data derived from the ship's two videometers.

The videometers, working simultaneously with one in standby mode, fire pulses of laser light toward the station one-to-ten times per second.

Acting as space mirrors, 26 reflectors positioned on the back end of the station's Zvezda service module will beam the laser light back to the sensors on Edoardo Amaldi, creating unique light patterns captured on the ATV's cameras. The craft's advanced computers will use the patterns to autonomously determine its orientation, closing rate and distance from the space station.

Two other instruments known as telegoniometers will serve as watchdogs during the final rendezvous, ready to take over if something went wrong with the primary system.

The telegoniometers, similar to police radar guns, emit laser light at a different wavelength toward the Zvezda reflectors up to 10,000 times per second. The light's travel time between Edoardo Amaldi and the station allow the craft determine its range, while the direction of the station is given by the angles of two built-in mirrors rotating to the aim the laser at its target.

Another hold in the approach is programmed at a distance of 62 feet for ATV engineers to review the progress of the rendezvous. Edoardo Amaldi is expected to stop at the S4 hold point at 2210 GMT (6:10 p.m. EDT) and stay there about 13 minutes.

A final halting of the ATV's rendezvous is planned at the so-called S41 point at 2225 GMT (10:40 a.m. EST) approximately 36 feet from the back end of the station.

If systems remain ready for docking, the bus-sized spacecraft will resume its approach for docking to the Zvezda service module at 2233 GMT (6:33 p.m. EDT).

The ATV is also outfitted with a Russian Kurs radar docking system as a backup.

Engineers packed eight supply racks into Edoardo Amaldi's pressurized section, two more than flew aboard previous ATV missions in 2008 and 2011. The spacecraft's total dry cargo load is more than 4,800 pounds, including fresh food, clothing, crew personal items, experiments and spare parts.

The rear section of the Edoardo Amaldi spacecraft contains propellant and gas tanks with 12,000 pounds of rocket fuel and oxidizer. About 1,900 pounds of propellant will be pumped into tanks inside the space station.

The ATV will deliver 220 pounds of oxygen and air and replenish the station with 75 gallons of potable water.

Europe's automated resupply freighter is on final approach to dock with the International Space Station, delivering food, spare parts, propellant and other cargo to the outpost's six residents.

The bus-sized Automated Transfer Vehicle, christened Edoardo Amaldi after an Italian space pioneer, is scheduled to dock with the space station's Russian service module at 2233 GMT (6:33 p.m. EDT).

The spacecraft is the largest vehicle resupplying the space station since the retirement of the space shuttle.

Since launching Friday at 0434 GMT (12:34 a.m. EDT), the Automated Transfer Vehicle has fired its engines in a series of maneuvers to tweak its approach the space station. It also deployed an antenna boom to communicate with the complex during the rendezvous.

The ATV is now about 20 kilometers, or 12 miles, from the space station.

Check out launch photos from remote cameras around the pad.

An Ariane 5 booster blasted off Friday with nearly 7.3 tons of cargo bound for the International Space Station inside an unmanned resupply freighter, becoming the heaviest rocket and spacecraft ever launched by Europe.

Two solid rocket boosters and a clean-burning hydrogen-fueled engine ramped up to 2.6 million pounds of thrust to push the 856-ton Ariane 5 launcher off the ground at the Guiana Space Center, a European-run spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Liftoff was at 0434 GMT (12:34 a.m. EDT), the moment when the space station's orbital plane passed over the launch site in the Amazon jungle.

Read our full story on the launch.

Check out launch photos from the Toucan viewing site about 3 miles south of the Ariane 5 launch pad.

The Automated Transfer Vehicle's four solar array wings have been deployed to generate electricity aboard the spacecraft.

With its job complete, Ariane 5's upper stage will ignite again at about 0658 GMT (2:58 a.m. EDT) to drop the rocket from orbit and impact in the Pacific Ocean.

ESA reports the priming of the ATV's propulsion system has been completed, and the first commands have been issued through NASA's tracking satellite network.

The next milestone will be the deployment of Edoardo Amaldi's four X-shaped solar array wings, which will stretch 73 feet tip-to-tip. Deployment should begin around 0602 GMT (2:02 a.m. EDT) and will take about 14 minutes to complete.

"This is not yet a success for ESA," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, European Space Agency director general. "I should say five months from now this will be a success. This is just the start of a very long journey."

SPACECRAFT SEPARATION. The Automated Transfer Vehicle just deployed from the upper stage of the Ariane 5 rocket.

Plus+63 minutes. With the second upper stage burn complete, officials are standing by for separation of the ATV 3 payload.

Plus+59 minutes, 35 seconds. Second stage ignition. This burn will last for about 28 seconds.

Plus+58 minutes. Standing by for the second upper stage burn for today's launch.

Plus+52 minutes. The Aestus engine will reignite in about seven minutes for a 28-second firing to circularize the rocket's orbit at an altitude of 161 miles. The target orbital inclination is 51.6 degrees.

Quick shots of the Ariane 5's fiery blastoff are on our Facebook page. Be sure to like us on Facebook!

The crew aboard the International Space Station was awake to watch a live video feed of this morning's launch, according to NASA.

Plus+25 minutes. The Ariane 5 rocket has passed out of communications tracking sites in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Azores. Ground stations in Australia and New Zealand, along with NASA's TDRSS satellite network, will monitor the second Ariane 5 upper stage burn and the deployment of Edoardo Amaldi, ESA's third Automated Transfer Vehicle.

"As you have just seen, the first part of the mission has now completed, and we have now begun the ballistic phase," said Jean-Yves Le Gall, Arianespace chairman and CEO. "The EPS, which is the storable propellant stage manufactured in Bremen, is now crossing Europe and will go over Asia and Australia."

A second firing of the storable propellant stage, or EPS, will last about 28 seconds.

Plus+17 minutes, 20 seconds. The Aestus engine has turned off after firing for about 8 minutes to place the ATV payload in a temporary parking orbit.

The Ariane is now entering a ballistic phase, in which the rocket will fly over Europe, Asia and Australia before restarting the Aestus engine to circularize its orbit at an altitude of 161 miles. The second upper stage burn is scheduled to start at Plus+59 minutes, 23 seconds, or 0533 GMT (1:33 a.m. EDT).

Plus+16 minutes. The rocket is now passing in range of the Santa Maria tracking site in the Azores.

Plus+15 minutes. The upper stage will shut down at Plus+17 minutes, 18 seconds, having reached an elliptical parking orbit with a high point of 161 miles and a low point of about 85 miles.

Plus+11 minutes, 30 seconds. Altitude is 146.6 kilometers and velocity is 7.19 kilometers per second.

Plus+9 minutes, 20 seconds. Ariane 5's empty first stage has shut down and jettisoned, and the storable propellant upper stage has ignited for the first of two burns needed to place the ATV in a circular 161-mile-high orbit.

The first stage will fall back to Earth and impact in the Atlantic Ocean west of Portugal.

Plus+8 minutes. Altitude is 133 kilometers and velocity is 5.79 kilometers per second. One minute left in the first stage burn.

Plus+6 minutes, 15 seconds. Flying over the Atlantic Ocean on the power of its first stage Vulcain 2 engine, the Ariane 5 rocket has passed in communications range of a tracking ship positioned under its flight path.

Plus+3 minutes, 38 seconds. The Ariane 5's payload fairing has jettisoned, exposing the Edoardo Amaldi spacecraft now that the rocket is out of the dense atmosphere.

Plus+2 minutes, 26 seconds. The solid rocket boosters have been jettisoned from the Ariane 5 rocket's core stage. The liquid-fueled Vulcain main engine continues to fire to propel the vehicle and its satellite payload to space.

Plus+90 seconds. Burning more than 5 metric tons of fuel per second, Ariane is soaring into the sky bound for the International Space Station.

Plus+60 seconds. The Ariane 5 has roared away from the South American jungle launch site in Kourou, French Guiana. The combined power generated by the twin solid rocket boosters and liquid-fueled main stage engine are propelling this heaviest-ever Ariane payload into the partly cloudy night sky. The rocket has gone transonic and is nearing the region of maximum aerodynamic pressure.

Liftoff of the Ariane 5 rocket with Edoardo Amaldi, Europe's third Automated Transfer Vehicle to supply the International Space Station.

Minus-40 seconds. Ariane 5 is running on internal power.

Minus-1 minute. A fast-paced series of events leading to launch will begin at Minus-37 seconds when the automated ignition sequence is started. The water suppression system at the launch pad will start at Minus-30 seconds. At Minus-22 seconds, overall control will be given to the onboard computer. The Vulcain main engine will be readied for ignition with hydrogen chilldown starting at Minus-18 seconds.

The residual hydrogen burn flares will fire beneath the Vulcain engine at Minus-6 seconds to burn away any free hydrogen gas. At Minus-3 seconds, onboard systems take over and the two inertial guidance systems go to flight mode. Vulcain main engine ignition occurs at Minus-0 seconds with checkout between Plus+4 and 7 seconds. If there are no problems found, the solid rocket boosters are ignited at Plus+7.0 seconds for liftoff at Plus+7.3 seconds.

Minus-2 minutes. The Vulcain main engine supply valves are being opened. And the ground valves for engine chilldown are being closed.

Minus-3 minutes. The scheduled launch time has been loaded into the rocket's main computer system. The main stage tank pressures should now be at flight level.

Minus-4 minutes. Pressurization is now underway for the main cryogenic stage's liquid oxygen and hydrogen tanks. Also, final pyrotechnic arming is starting.

Minus-5 minutes. All status panel lights remain green, indicating no problems right now that could prevent an on-time blastoff.

Minus-6 minutes. Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen supplies of the main cryogenic stage are being verified at flight level. Also, the pyrotechnic line safety barriers are being armed.

Minus-7 minutes. The Synchronized Sequence has started. Computers are now in control of this automated final phase of the launch countdown to prepare the rocket and ground systems for liftoff. There are three computers running the countdown -- one aboard the Ariane 5 and two redundant computers at the launch complex.

Minus-8 minutes. The synchronized countdown sequence begins in one minute, transferring all control over to computers.

Minus-10 minutes. Tonight's launch opportunity is just an instant in time. Unlike most Ariane flights that feature launch windows that can extend as much as a couple of hours, this ATV mission has just one second for the rocket to blast off. The precise launch time is 0434:05 GMT.

Minus-13 minutes. Right now, all systems are "go" for launch. There were rain showers in the area around the launch base earlier, but much of the activity has cleared. Precipitation is not a weather rule for the Ariane 5 rocket, but thick clouds, winds and lightning would violate acceptable conditions.

Minus-15 minutes. This launch marks the heaviest payload and rocket ever flown by Europe.

Minus-21 minutes. The Synchronized Sequence is being prepped for activation. This computer-run sequence assumes control of the countdown at the Minus-7 minute mark to perform the final tasks to place the rocket and pad systems in launch configuration. At Minus-4 seconds, the rocket's onboard computer will take over control of main engine start, health checks of the powerplant and solid rocket booster ignition commanding for liftoff.

Minus-25 minutes. At the time of launch, the International Space Station will be flying 243 statute miles over the southern Pacific Ocean west of Chile. The six-person crew aboard the complex is scheduled to be in a sleep shift, but mission control in Houston will be uplinking live video to the space station if the astronauts elect to watch the launch.

Minus-30 minutes. Although the launch time is being advertised as 0434:05 GMT (12:34:05 a.m. EDT), liftoff will actually occur seven seconds later. The countdown is timed for the moment of ignition of the Ariane 5's first stage Vulcain engine. The 16-story rocket will rise from the pad seven seconds later when the twin solid rocket boosters fire.

The Automated Transfer Vehicle, christened Edoardo Amaldi, will be deployed 64 minutes later. The craft will dock with the space station March 28 at 2232 GMT (6:32 p.m. EDT).

Live video coverage of the Ariane 5 countdown and launch is beginning.

Minus-60 minutes. We visited the ATV integration site in Bremen, Germany, in June 2011 to see the Edoardo Amaldi cargo craft under construction. Check out exclusive photos of the spacecraft.

ESA's ATV mission manager Massimo Cislaghi reports the status board is all green in the Jupiter control room at the Guiana Space Center, indicating all systems and weather conditions are acceptable for liftoff. The Ariane 5 rocket has an instantaneous opportunity for launch at 0434:05 GMT (12:34:05 a.m. EDT).

This launch will mark the 205th flight of an Ariane rocket since 1979, and it will be the 61st mission of an Ariane 5 launcher since being introduced in 1996.

Spaceflight Now recently sat down for lunch with Jean-Yves Le Gall, the chairman and CEO of Arianespace, to discuss his view of the launch industry, the outlook for his company's future, and the effects of the global economy on spaceflight.

Read part one and part two of our Q&A.

You can follow the progress of the Ariane 5 launch with this timeline of the 64-minute flight to deploy ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle, nicknamed Edoardo Amaldi after an Italian space pioneer.

Also, check out a map of the rocket's ground track during the flight.

Those in Western Europe have a chance of seeing the Ariane 5's upper stage and the ATV overhead in the sky between 20 and 23 minutes after liftoff (0454-0457 GMT).

The spacecraft will fly almost directly overhead Le Mans, Paris and Luxembourg, yielding observers away from city lights a naked eye view of the vehicle if skies are clear.

Learn more about how to view the ATV during launch.

Fueling of the Ariane 5 rocket's first stage has begun. The core stage's Vulcain 2 engine consumes cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant during its 9-minute burn.

Fueling started around 0009 GMT (8:09 p.m. EDT; 9:09 p.m. French Guiana time), according to an ESA spokesperson.

The launch team will load 170 metric tons, or about 375,000 pounds, of propellant into the first stage over the next couple of hours. More cryogenic propellant will be slowly pumped into the rocket through the rest of the countdown to replace the liquid as it boils off.

The Ariane 5's second stage burns storable hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide propellants, which were loaded earlier in March when the rocket was still inside its final assembly building.

The launcher's twin solid rocket boosters, which generate most of the thrust at liftoff, were cast with solid propellant when they were built in French Guiana.

The Ariane will weigh 777 metric tonnes, or about 1.7 million pounds, at the time of liftoff.

Officials say the weather outlook for tonight's launch is favorable so far. There are scattered clouds and rain showers around the French Guiana spaceport, but the activity should diminish later this evening.

The countdown continues on schedule with no major issues.

Spectacular images of the heavy-lifting Ariane 5 launcher on the pad following yesterday's rollout.

With the countdown now underway, all systems are reported to be nominal with the Ariane 5 launcher and its Automated Transfer Vehicle payload.

Workers at the launch pad are spending this afternoon preparing the rocket for cryogenic fueling, which is due to begin after 2330 GMT (7:30 p.m. EDT).

Check out aerial photos from European Space Agency photographer Stephane Corvaja showing this morning's rollout of the Ariane 5 launcher.

Mounted on a mobile platform and riding dual rail tracks, an Ariane 5 rocket rolled to its launch pad in French Guiana on Wednesday morning, making the journey from its assembly building in about one hour.

Rollout from the final assembly building began at 1415 GMT (10:15 a.m. EDT; 11:15 a.m. French Guiana time) and concluded at 1530 GMT (11:30 a.m. EDT; 12:30 p.m. French Guiana time).

After reaching the launch pad, the rocket was supposed to be connected to ground utilities, including electrical and fueling systems. Workers at the South America launch site planned to fill the Ariane 5's helium pressurant system later Wednesday.

Launch is set for 0434 GMT (12:34 a.m. EDT; 1:34 a.m. French Guiana time) Friday.

The final countdown will begin Thursday at 1704 GMT (1:04 p.m. EDT), and a check of the launcher's electrical systems is scheduled for 2104 GMT (5:04 p.m. EDT), followed by configuring the rocket's core stage and Vulcain 2 engine for fueling.

At 2234 GMT (6:34 p.m. EDT), workers will prepare the launch pad for liftoff as the launch team loads the rocket's flight program into its computers, checks radio links between the vehicle and the Ariane launch base, and aligns the Ariane 5's navigation system for flight.

One hour later, at 2334 GMT (7:34 p.m. EDT), the pad crew will evacuate the ELA-3 launch zone before fueling of the Ariane 5 launcher gets underway. The rocket's first stage will be filled with cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants during the countdown.

The Ariane 5's two strap-on boosters burn solid fuel, and storable hypergolic propellants were loaded aboard the launcher's upper stage earlier in March.

Chilldown of the first stage Vulcain engine is expected at about 0134 GMT (9:34 p.m. EDT).

Computers will assume control of the countdown 7 minutes before liftoff at 0427 GMT (12:27 a.m. EDT), managing a fast-paced series of events to pressurize the rocket's propellant tanks, switch the launcher to on-board power, arm its destruct system, and ignite its main engine.

The launch readiness review for the Ariane 5 rocket was successfully completed today, one day after engineers held a similar examination of the Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo ship.

Officials assessed the status of the Ariane 5 launcher, the ATV cargo craft, ground systems and tracking stations.

The reviews cleared the way for the Ariane 5 rocket to roll to the launch pad at the Guiana Space Center on Wednesday, beginning around 1320 GMT (9:20 a.m. EDT), or 10:20 a.m. local time at the South America spaceport.

The launcher is currently inside the final assembly building, and it will follow rail tracks across a savanna on the 1.7-mile trip to the ELA-3 launch zone. The rollout takes about one hour.

Once at the pad, the rocket will be hooked up to electrical, communications and fueling systems. Technicians will also fill the first stage's helium reservoir with pressurant for its cryogenic propellant system.

Launch toward the International Space Station is scheduled for an instantaneous opportunity at 0434 GMT (12:34 a.m. EDT; 1:34 a.m. French Guiana time) Friday.

Engineers convened in Europe and South America today and cleared a resupply craft for launch Friday with propellant, food, spare parts and breathing air for the International Space Station.

Liftoff is due at 0434 GMT (12:34 a.m. EDT) Friday aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from the Guiana Space Center on the northeast coast of South America.

The European Space Agency cargo ship will reach the space station and dock on autopilot at 2234 GMT (6:34 p.m. EDT) on March 28.

ESA's third Automated Transfer Vehicle was due to blast off March 9, but managers ordered the removal of the Ariane launcher's nose fairing and opening of the craft's access hatch to tighten straps on cargo bags.

Read our full story on the delay.

Technicians completed the job and re-installed the rocket's aerodynamic shroud March 14, allowing officials to resume final launch preparations. The launch team completed a countdown dress rehearsal March 16.

ESA conducted a launch readiness review for the ATV mission Monday, clearing the 22-ton spacecraft for flight, according to Massimo Cislaghi, the ATV mission manager.

A similar readiness review for the Ariane 5 launcher is scheduled for Tuesday.

Final arming of the Ariane 5 rocket was underway late Monday inside the space center's 295-foot-tall final assembly building.

Rollout of the launcher from its final assembly building to the ELA-3 launch zone is set to begin at 1320 GMT (9:20 a.m. EDT) Wednesday. It will take about an hour to complete the 1.7-mile trip on dual rail tracks.

The final countdown will begin at 1704 GMT (1:04 p.m. EDT) Thursday as controllers activate the launcher and fill its cryogenic core stage with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.

ESA has set preliminary launch and docking times for the Automated Transfer Vehicle mission after announcing Friday they flight would be delayed about two weeks to check cargo bags inside the resupply spacecraft.

The third ATV mission was due to launch March 9 and dock to the International Space Station on March 18, U.S. time.

Officials reset launch for March 23 at about 0431 GMT (12:31 a.m. EDT), followed by arrival at the space station March 28 at about 2251 GMT (6:51 p.m. EDT).

The times are subject to change based on final mission planning and the space station's orbit as launch approaches.

Technicians must re-enter a European Automated Transfer Vehicle to tighten retention straps on cargo bags, a move that will delay the craft's launch on a logistics mission to the International Space Station by two weeks to around March 23, officials said Friday.

The Automated Transfer Vehicle, already closed up inside the nose of an Ariane 5 rocket, was scheduled to launch March 9.

But managers reviewing the readiness of the mission ordered a delay to give workers time to cinch two loose straps on two cargo bags, according to Massimo Cislaghi, the European Space Agency's ATV mission manager.

Read our full story.

Check out photos from the first encapsulation of the ATV inside the Ariane 5 rocket's payload fairing earlier this week.

Technicians lowered the Ariane 5 launcher's aerodynamic nose cone atop Europe's next space station resupply freighter Monday, enclosing seven tons of cargo for liftoff from French Guiana scheduled for March 9.

Europe's third Automated Transfer Vehicle will haul 14,539 pounds of equipment, breathing air, water and propellant to the International Space Station.

Launch is set for approximately 1005 GMT (5:05 a.m. EST) on March 9, or at 7:05 a.m. local time at the Guiana Space Center, a French-run spaceport on the edge of South America's Amazon jungle.

An Ariane 5 rocket will boost the 22-ton spaceship into orbit during a one-hour mission, then the ATV will fine-tune its approach to the space station, eventually docking to the outpost's Russian segment late on March 18, U.S. time.

Monday's encapsulation procedure marked the final time engineers will have access to the ATV spacecraft, which is nicknamed Edoardo Amaldi after the Italian physicist who made groundbreaking discoveries in nuclear and particle physics and later helped foster the precursor to ESA.

"It's the last time we'll see ATV 3 until it appears on the ISS camera screen the day of docking," said Massimo Cislaghi, ATV 3 mission manager.

The Ariane 5 rocket's 5.4-meter, or 17.7-foot, diameter payload fairing was lowered on top of the Edoardo Amaldi spaceship Monday afternoon, according to Cislaghi.

Built by RUAG Space of Zurich, the fairing protects the spacecraft in a controlled environment during the days before liftoff and the launcher's ascent through the lower atmosphere. It is jettisoned in two halves once the rocket reaches a safe altitude, usually more than 60 miles above Earth.

The operation occurred inside the Ariane 5 launcher's final assembly building. The ATV payload was lifted atop the rocket's upper stage Feb. 9.

Workers loaded the spacecraft's pressurized compartment with nearly 1,300 pounds of cargo over two days beginning Feb. 14. The late cargo complement included crew care packages and a pump for the station's urine processing system, which purifies waste water into drinking water for the crew aboard the orbiting lab.

Installing supplies when the ATV is in a vertical position required special techniques and equipment. The late cargo load for this flight was doubled from the second ATV mission in 2011.

The craft's hatch was closed for flight Feb. 16. Since then, technicians have inspected the spacecraft, checked its multi-layer thermal blankets, and removed safety covers and other ground support items.

The rocket will be rolled to the launch pad March 7, Cislaghi said in an interview from French Guiana on Monday.

"Before that, basically on the ATV side, we are always performing health checks and monitoring the health of the spacecraft until launch, including monitoring the environmental parameters," Cislaghi said. "It's kind of a routine activity. Most of the work on the hardware remaining is on the launcher side with the fueling of the various segments of the Ariane 5 launcher."

The Ariane 5 rocket's upper stage will be fueled with storable propellant later this week, and launch readiness reviews are planned March 5 and March 6.

Final arming of the 16-story rocket is scheduled for March 6.

Europe's third Automated Transfer Vehicle was moved to the Ariane 5 launcher's final assembly building Tuesday, commencing the last phase of the cargo freighter's launch campaign before blasting off March 9 for the International Space Station.

Outfitted with eight supply racks, two more than the first two ATV missions, craft will carry about 1,300 pounds more dry cargo than the disposable freighter's previous flight last year.

"Every cubic centimeter of the carrier is at full capability," said a European Space Agency fact sheet.

Read our full story.