Europe's space freighter will undock from the International
Space Station on Friday after completing its mission to the orbiting platform.
The ship - dubbed Jules Verne - will release itself from the rear of the ISS before diving into the atmosphere in three weeks' time, on 29 September.
Re-entry, over the Pacific Ocean, will destroy the vehicle and the station waste loaded on to it by astronauts.
The automated undocking procedure is expected to get under way at 2130 GMT.
Events will be overseen by ISS mission controllers in Moscow, but also by Jules Verne's dedicated management facility in Toulouse, France.
Jules Verne is the first in a series of unmanned freighters that will go to the station over the course of the next few years.
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05 Sep 2008, 2:53 pm
