The European Space Agency's unmanned space freighter is practicing approaches and retreats in preparation for docking with the International Space Station on Thursday. The ATV is carrying nearly five tonnes of supplies for the ISS astronauts, and flies under the control of autonomous computers. "We've had the usual small anomalies; we're learning how to fly the bird - but nothing that has been really difficult," said John Ellwood from the European Space Agency. The BBC has more on the story here, along with an interesting Google Maps mashup that allows you to track the flights of both the ATV and the ISS... cool!
