Space Station Resupply Cargo Meets Fiery End Upon Reentry

The European Space Agency (ESA) cargo capsule Albert Einstein finished its mission with a fiery finale Saturday after having completed a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) burned up as planned over an uninhabited area of the southern Pacific Ocean as it reentered the Earth's thick atmosphere.

Albert Einstein delivered 2,480 kilograms of cargo to the crew aboard the orbiting lab -- a record for the ATV series. Among the more than 1,400 individual items on board were supplies for experiments on emulsions that researchers hope will help yield foods and pharmaceuticals with longer shelf-lives. Clothes, food and spare parts were also included among the cargo.

The capsule performed six reboosts while docked in order to help the station counteract the effects of atmospheric drag and remain in orbit. Without it and and others like it, including Russia's smaller Progress vehicles, the ISS would eventually fall back to Earth.

Before it left, the crew loaded the capsule up with a record amount of waste material for an ATV, freeing up space in the orbiting lab.

The capsule performed a number of maneuvers on its way out so as to reenter the atmosphere in such a way that the crew members were able to view its initial fragmentation, offering them a unique look at reentry physics.

"The mission went perfectly, which for me and the ATV team or any space mission is a great thing," Alberto Novelli, ATV-4 mission manager, said in a statement. "The smooth running of this fourth mission shows the maturity of the ATV [program] and puts ESA's successful track record on the map for future projects."

ATVs represent the most complex space vehicles ever developed in Europe, the ESA reports, with the next in the series already delivered by boat to the European spaceport in French Guiana. The loading of cargo onto the module will start in March 2014.