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Automated Transfer Vehicle
The European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) programme was conceived in 1987 and initiated in 1995. Although the agency initially envisioned building at least eight ATVs, only five were built and flown. Over the course of these five missions, ATVs delivered more than 31,500 kg of supplies and help reboost the International Space Station several times.
Although the vehicle is now retired, much of the tech developed for the vehicle, including the iconic x-wing solar arrays, will live on as part of the European Service Module (ESM). The ESM will provide power, propulsion, consumables, and other vital functions to NASA's Orion spacecraft which will return humans to the Moon for the first time since the end of the Apollo program in 1972.
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