BRIEF NEWS: Waste Filled Space Freighter Vaporises In Descent To Earth

27 June 2011

The European ATV-Johannes Kepler ship took 1.3 tonnes of rubbish from the space station into a controlled dive into the atmosphere last week

Most of the vehicle and its 1.3 tonnes of waste cargo have been burnt up in the descent, with only a few hardier pieces of hardware having survived to the ocean surface, officials have said.

The burn-up brings an end to Kepler's four-month mission to the station, but it's unclear as to whether the burn up was a strategic act in order to dispose of the waste upon re-entry.

The purpose of the craft had been to deliver more than seven tonnes of fuel, food, air and equipment to the orbiting platform.

Three further freighters are planned, with the first of these - Edoardo Amaldi - due to launch at the end of February next year. The final two will go up in 2013 and 2014.

We guess recycling was not an option.